IN THE BEGINNING

This blog will be an on going discussion on Organic Gardening, products to produce from your garden and the pros and cons of various Farmers Markets in your area. My area will be Missouri, specifically the Mississippi River area from Hannibal to St. Louis.

I learned how to do gardening organically from my Grandmother and have prepared a garden that way every time I had a new garden.  I have learned new things during the years, tried things that didn’t work and some things that did.  We are going to investigate all aspects of Organic Gardening by putting in a garden in a 5 year old spot and putting in a new spot and see what happens.

We will experiment with pest control, weed control, planting for product production, selling the grown products to include methods of canning, drying and freezing and grow a continued discussion of various planting methods from around the country, world.

My garden is designed to give me fresh vegetables during the summer, canning extra vegetables for use in the winter and selling some at a Farmers Market to make extra money and pay for my garden so I am essentially spending no money for my food.

I am in Missouri in zone 5b with a mixture of 5a as found on the National Gardening Association map of the Hardiness Zone Finder for the USA.  Anyone that can locate one for the world please let us know and I will post that as well.

The rule of thumb is that you plant in your area after the last frost, for me this will be sometime in April or May with cooler varieties like lettuce, spinach and beans being planted first as early, as possible as these vegetables don't mind the cool weather.

Last year, 2010, was the first time I participated in a Farmers Market and ended up making $700.00 on an investment of about $100.00.  During the year I wished I would have planted other things and then at Christmas was wishing for some potpourri to make my house smell good but of course all those ingredients are expensive and most are very economical to grow.  So this year I will be planting some items to use in potpourri.  I do Organic Gardening but will often buy some plants instead of starting all my own but I want to achieve an Organic Gardening certificate for my garden and that requires Organic only seeds.  These seeds are expensive for the average person so I am going to experiment with drying some of my own seeds for next year. 

The next insertion will be PLANNING THE GARDEN.