It is May! Things are growing in my zone 9 South East Louisiana garden. I have a square foot potager kitchen garden and I'm working on a native bog garden and a butterfly garden! Let's see our progress.
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Watch me Grow my Green Thumb! I'm learning to Garden, a Potager Style Garden in the Square Foot Gardening Method to be exact, with lots of fruit, vegetables, and flowers! I also am working on a Native Plant garden. Oh, I can't forget our milkweed and butterflies! The monarchs will be so happy when my milkweed grows! We are waiting for Spring 2021 planting season right now, and also can't wait for our Fruit Trees to Fruit!! Come watch a Garden Tour and see my success and failures in the garden. I will share everything from seed starting to composting to planting to harvesting, and maybe even some recipes?!
Let me know what kind of videos you would like to see! Maybe a Month by Month Garden tour and checklist for Zone 9? I'm in South East Louisiana and it can get very hot and humid in the summer time. Maybe you want to see how I tackle pests and diseases in the garden? I've used organic BT and Spinosad to help control caterpillars. I've also used Neem oil and row covers. What about powdery mildew? Do you suffer with that on your squashes and zucchini like I do? I plan to try out some different varieties of curcubits to see if I can find something that will do well here in zone 9a. Would you like to see how I built my raised garden beds? I built them myself!! A woman's DIY project, using power tools and everything. I got the nice guys at Lowe's to cut the pressure treated lumber for me, and I hauled them home in my vehicle. Then I used my garden plan template that I created to get to work organizing the beds into place and using screws and a power drill! It was hard work, but it sure felt great to be under the trees, listening to the birds sing. Nature therapy is the best therapy for me. I can share my garden plan template if y'all want. Let me know in the comments!! I can share dimensions and the layout. It's all on graph paper. One of the things I've learned to do to keep costs down in the garden is to start my own plants from seed. I'm ADDICTED TO COLLECTING SEEDS. I have a collection of heirloom and rare seeds and some hybrids for disease resistance. I have a short video on my grow light station. Everything from that station was purchased at Lowe's as well. You can create a seed starting station with grow lights on the cheap with materials from Lowe's! I also learned how to make Compost. Check out my short video on using Baby Gates as a repurposed compost bin. That was the cheapest compost bin of all- FREE! Another money saving trick I learned was how to make a sturdy trellis using cattle panels and T posts. I have 3 of them currently. I wish I would have shot footage of use getting those home in the back of the truck! We had to bend them into an arch, tie the ends together, and slide them in the truck bed. It was easy getting them set up, and now I have beautiful trellises that are sturdy and were inexpensive to buy. I am also being resourceful with my land. I had two oak trees cut down recently and had the trees chipped and left on my property. Now I have several year's supply of mulch! I used mulch in my garden pathways and plan to use it all around my property. Kind of a Back to Eden style Gardening. I don't have a rain barrel yet, but it is certainly on my to-do list. Let me know what kind of DIY Rain Barrels worked well for you!! My dream garden will have a beautiful glass greenhouse. A girl can dream right!? I'm so envious of Laura and Garden Answer's new greenhouse. She is goals!! Laura, shout out to you! I love watching you! Also to Jess at Roots and Refuge! Hey girl, you make me want chickens and goats!! Y'all are my inspiration. Y'all are certainly helping me Grow My Green Thumb!
