5 Secrets to Jump Start Your Summer Garden

Photo courtesy of West Cliff Creative

Jump start your summer garden with a handful of easy to follow tips and a copy of Grow What You Love!

*Giveaway is Closed*

Grow What You Love book is designed for both beginning gardeners and those looking to fine tune their existing garden. The tips below are just a taste for starting your garden this spring. You’ll find more detail and inspiration in the book.

Learn more about the Grow What You Love book here.

Photo courtesy of West Cliff Creative

5 SECRETS TO JUMP START YOUR SUMMER GARDEN

Grow What You Love

Find the things that make you happy and grow them! Whether it’s basil for your favorite pesto, succulents for your windowsill, or pineapple sage for pollinators and cocktails. Whatever it is, start here. Choose one or two or a handful. Cultivating the things your love means every minute counts that much more and it’s time well spent.

Discover Something New

I always go back to the tried and true varieties that grow best in my garden, however, I also enjoy trying one or two new varieties each season. Seed catalogs are a wonderful resource for discovering new varieties.

Photo courtesy of West Cliff Creative

Keep it Simple

Think containers, filling nooks and crannies with life. Grow the things that elevate your aesthetic such as the flowers and flavors that put a skip in your step. A little can go a long way, setting you up for success.

Know Your Frost Dates

Pencil in the frost dates for your region and plan to vegetables and flowers accordingly. You’ll need start plants with long growing seasons, like tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers indoors, and plan to plant them out once chance of frost has past and temperatures rise. Crops like radishes and turnips can be directly sown in the garden as soon as soils can be worked in spring and up to your first fall frost. Look to organizations like the USDA or NOAA to determine your frost dates.

Follow Nature

In nature, water runs downhill. So too should water in your garden. Make sure the containers you’re working with provide adequate drainage, ensuring soils can breath. When working with containers, begin the season by repotting or refreshing last years soil with new, organic potting soil. Top dress raised beds and in-ground plots with compost or mulch over an inch or two of composted manure.

Consider adding companion plants, flowering herbs, and/or edible flowers to your veggie garden, and use interplanting concepts found in Grow What You Love. Companion planting helps protect your garden naturally and provides essential habitat and forage for pollinators like bees and butterflies.

Transplanting Seeds Vs Direct Sowing

Seeds 101: Seed Selection & Terminology

GROW WHAT YOU LOVE BOOK GIVEAWAY

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Buy a copy of Grow What You Love here.

Photo courtesy of West Cliff Creative

Photo courtesy of West Cliff Creative

Grow what you love and pass it on. ;)