Permie beginner on tight budget, looking to document all my failures (and successes).

Hello friends! I have been "gardening" for the past 3-4 years or so, by that I mean I have had a couple tomato plants and herbs. This year will be different. And if it's not, I wasted a lot of money on seeds.

My story - I love food. I could stop there, but I won't. I learned to cook around the age of 10 and have been obsessed with food since then. While my brother and sisters were eating chicken tenders and pizza at a restaurant - I would have a nice steak or lobster. My love of food and cooking brought me to culinary school where I racked up a good sum of debt. After school I bounced from kitchen to kitchen and found that I might not want a career in the cooking field anymore. Food is expensive, so it is good I also have a passion for gardening, plants, and the environment! Last August I started looking into permaculture and it just made sense to me. So, this year I am going to implement it as much as possible. There will be failures and I am ready for them, but I have decided I want to spend the rest my life growing plants and maybe one day I can get paid for it. For now I will grow in my backyard here in Maryland's eastern shore.

Enough chatter, let's get some pics going;

My seedlings. Here we have pink, roma, and mystery tomatoes. Also comfrey, artichoke, okra, and some very sad cruciferous veggies.


A couple garlic plants and scallions (I think they are at least, they were a gift last year and they popped back up this spring)


One of my garden beds. Right now I just seeded some turnip, radicchio, chard, and lettuce greens.


My dogs worshiping my garlic box. There is also an Egyptian walking onion in here.


And what I assume to be turnip seedlings


I have many other pictures to show you all, but I love the connector to my desktop. So for now it is a chore to get them from my phone to my computer. Expect updates frequently as weather warms.

I'm looking forward to reading more about your adventure. Looks like you are off to a good start.

It sounds like you already have most of your seed, however, I wanted to let you know about seed libraries. A lot of local libraries now lend seeds like they do books. You 'borrow' the seeds in the spring, you grow the plant, save the seeds, keep enough seeds for your garden next year and give the 'return' the rest of the seeds to the library. These are usually free or included in a library membership. Most libraries also offer free gardening and seed saving classes. Some libraries lend small allotments with the seeds to people who don't have access to land. Here's a list of SOME of the seed libraries in the USA.

Let us know how it goes and feel free to ask us any questions that might come up.

What a difference 6 weeks has made. So, here's what's been going on;

My first harvest;


My tomatoes! The one on the left I put into the ground right after the last frost April 16th. I normally would wait, but I had plenty of tomato plants to spare. The one on the right was put in May 3rd. Same variety, seeds sprouted on the same day, what a major head start I had!



Potatoes!



One lonely asparagus. The other 7 have not popped up, not sure what I did wrong here.



One of 4 artichokes. This one is the furthest along. I'm so proud!



So apparently these brassicas I got last fall aren't annuals. I cut them down to the root last winter and they popped right back up this spring. I mixed in broccoli, cabbage, and collards so I'm not quite sure what these are. I figured I will just let the bees have at them.



Strawberries!



Herb bed is doing well! cilantro, parsley, sage, Scallions, garlic, and a teeny basil in the back.

Looking good! I also went to a (fancy overpriced) culinary school, which certainly fueled my interest in growing food. I look forward to reading more about your project

Alright. Get ready for a hug pic dump.

My first okra! Only got one, the plant is quite small still. I wonder if this is normal behavior for okra?


I'm also trying to beautify the southern side of my house. It looks bare now, but I got a good deal some some perennials. Off the top of my head we have hyssop, sky lavender, speedwell, perennial daisy, and catmint. All other flowers are bulbs my mom planted ages ago and though I like them I want year-round greens.




Some very sad blueberries. I planted them in march and they aren't looking so good right now. I'm side dressing with compost and coffee ground, hopefully it will let them take off soon




Paid 5 bucks for all of this, had a savings of $20 or so. Hopefully I can make it all grow



Weed tea..... as in weeds from the yard. I put them in a bucket for a week and let them ferment. It got stinky so I drained off the liquid and added a bubbler. Today (after 24 hours of aerobic fermentation) I poured it on a bed as a tester. I still have the weeds soaking in water and I want them to go for another week before I add them to the compost. I want that f*cking Bermuda grass dead!




Yarrow!



more to come.....

And other pics of the garden:






Egyptian walking onion, the only one that made it. Can I pick these off and plant them?




The bed (overrun with bermuda grass) prior to weed tea treatment






And Satan's gang has showed up as well:

My first okra! Only got one, the plant is quite small still. I wonder if this is normal behavior for okra?

A good start. Mulch it good and with some nice hot weather, you will get many more.

Some very sad blueberries. I planted them in march and they aren't looking so good right now. I'm side dressing with compost and coffee ground, hopefully it will let them take off soon

Nix the compost and coffee grounds and use pine cones and pine straw as mulch. My blueberries took off after I got into the habit of mulching them with shredded pine cones.

Egyptian walking onion, the only one that made it. Can I pick these off and plant them?

Yes. And you should notice the parent plant starting to regenerate from the base. Mine are now 4-6" tall and I need to clean them up and pull all the dried overwintered leaves when I collect the topsets.

Looking wonderful!