Experimental Garden

For the last few years I tried to do container gardening and every year I swore, "Next year I'm going to start a real garden."

I really had good intentions but the fear of not really knowing what I was doing held me back.

This spring, I went to the local nursery and bought the usual herbs and tomatoes and the kids threw in a couple extras, cucumbers, zucchini, watermelon, broccoli, kale and strawberries.

In addition to those, I also ran into a friend whose family owns a nursery.  She told me she had a lot of veggie plants that didn't sell and she was going to end up throwing a lot of them out and that I was free to stop by and take whatever I wanted.  I ended up with about 3 flats of various peppers and tomatoes that I had never heard of, but they were free, so why not!

When hubby saw all these plants, I guess it was enough to motivate him to pull out the rototiller and  plot out some space and plant my veggies for me.  It looks good but of course, we still have no idea what we are doing.

Here's a few things I need to research regarding my garden:

• You can water religiously, but nothing beats a good old fashioned thunder storm to make those babies really grow!

I guess I never knew this but someone told me that lightening actually helps fertilize soil. I want to know if this is true

• It's obvious when tomatoes and peppers are ready, but how do I know when it's time to harvest the onions and broccoli?

Well, that's about all I can think of now. I am off to research and I'll be back with some answers.