The Beginning of My Urban Garden

My Setup

I mentioned in a previous post that we rent a townhome.  There are other units on all three sides of us, so we only get sun on the east side of the two-story house.  We have a small patio where most of the plants we are growing will eventually call home.

The Plan

I have never planted a garden before, so I had some learning to do:

• What's easy to grow?
• How much space do I need?
• What grows well in Minnesota?
• What supplies do I need?
• Can I grow anything on the east side of my house?
• What will grow in a pot?
• Where do I even start?

As I started researching, I quickly realized that one could easily get sucked into the gardening information rabbit hole.  Not wanting to get bogged down in details, I decided just to go for it.  All I needed were some seeds, some soil, and some starter beds.

Starter Beds

Jiffy Professional Greenhouse

For starter beds, I ended up with two Jiffy Professional Greenhouse trays which hold 72 peat pellets each.  I chose to go with these because they were cheap and easy.  I didn't have to dig in the dirt at all.  I simply added water to each tray, let the pellets expand, then planted.  Simple and clean.  144 plants is probably way too many, but I should be allowed to get a little carried away from time to time...

Seed Selection

When I was picking out seeds I was looking for a few different things.  I wanted an herb garden for inside the house, I wanted a variety of my favorite vegetables, I wanted enough greens be be able to make a salad, and I wanted to try growing something that I don't typically care for.  And that was pretty much my criteria.  I didn't worry about sun exposure, and I didn't let the fact that I am getting a late start get me down.  I just picked seeds that gave me the variety that I wanted, and I am hoping for the best.  The only thing I kept in the back of my mind the whole time picking seeds was my limited space.  So no Watermelon, and I really have to be careful with the Tomatoes.  So here is what I ended up with.

The Herb Garden

Lavender

• Longstanding Cilantro
• Rosemary
• Oregano
• Sweet Basil
• Sage
• True Lavendar
• Mint
• Garlic Chives
• Tokyo Long Bunching Onion

Veggies

Dwarf Grey Sugar Pea

• Tendergreen Bean
• Romano Bush Garden Bean
• Dwarf Grey Sugar Pea
• Roma Tomato
• Beefsteak Tomato
• Chantenay Carrot
• Waltham 29 Broccoli
• Detroit Dark Red Beet
• Grand Bell Pepper
• Red Hot Pepper

Greens

Buttercrunch Lettuce

• Giant Nobel Spinach
• Paris Island Cos Lettuce
• Buttercrunch Lettuce
• Pricehead Lettuce

And Hale's Best Cantaloupe for good measure! (I know cantaloupe's are big, but I couldn't resist!)  In my next post, we finally get these seeds in the dirt!