I bought the seeds.

:) :) :) :)

I bought the seeds for our little plot in the community garden! Here's what I got:

Shelling Peas (Progress #9)
Leeks
Broccoli (Di Cicco)
Beet (Early Wonder)
Spinach (Bloomsdale)
Turnip (Purple Top White Globe)
Swiss Chard (Five Color Silverbeet)
Kale (Dinosaur!)
Fava Beans
Oh, and I'll have a patch of carrots (and radishes, duh).

All of my seeds are from Botanical Interests. Mainly because this is what my grocery store (Henry's Markets) sells, and because they have plenty of heirloom and organic varieties.

I was aided in choosing my crops by this helpful planting guide, specific to Southern California.

I've decided to use the square foot gardening method since our garden is so tiny. It seems to be the most space-efficient (and organized) gardening approach. This website is incredibly helpful - it tells you how many plants will fit in a square foot, and how to figure that out based on what the seed packet says. Genius!

And then I made a little map of our 4'x6' plot on a piece of paper, with each square inch representing a square foot of our garden. I plotted out where each plant will go, because I'm anal like that. Once I figured out how many squares each plant would take (for example, in one square foot you can only have one broccoli plant but can get as many as 16 carrot plants) I looked up companion planting because heaven forbid I plant two varieties that don't get along right next to each other.

Figuring out where each plant would go was like solving one of those annoying math/logic problems they had us do in elementary school. You know, the ones that go something like "Jimmy is twice the age of Mary. Mary is four years younger than Bob. Bob is two years older than Jimmy. Kelly is seven, and is half the age of Mary. How old is Bob?"


Ok, don't try solving that because it doesn't really have an answer. (I just made it up) But you see my point. You remember those third-grade math meltdowns and getting all anxious because the problem was taking too long, and you just wanted to solve it and get on with the rest of your homework so you could go out and play. Except in my case (the what should be planted next to what case), it was a little more fun because I knew there was an answer and a point to my "figuring out" where everything should go, in spite of all of my erasing and re-writing, erasing and re-writing, and then finally! A finished plan!

Did I mention that I'm anal like that?

Can't wait to start planting in t-minus four days! Don't you worry, I'll take lots of pictures.

<3
M