Guest Post: Jenny In Ohio

So, here is my second guest post today about happiness, from Jenny from Jenny In Ohio. She's going to share about something that makes her happy too, something that I wish I had the capacity to do as well: garden. Spring is just starting to shine through, and I can't think of a better way to welcome in the season than to start your own garden. So, while my little apartment doesn't have room for any vegetable plants or wildflowers, hopefully you'll be inspired to start your own gardens.

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Hi everyone! It's Jenny from Jennyinohio. Joelle graciously allowed me to do a guest post on her blog today. Thanks Joelle!

Finally, it's the time of year to start Gardening! I love plants.

This is my first year planting an in-the-ground vegetable garden. It isn't time to plant (most things) yet in these parts though. Here's a picture of my garden right now:

Exciting huh? There are teeny tiny spinach plants coming up, but you can't see them.

My boyfriend convinced me to start our tomatoes, peppers and beans from seed, instead of buying plants. I admit, I was skeptical, but check out these babies so far!

 

They will hopefully be mature enough to go in the ground just in time for the last frost to be over.

Last year, I didn't have time space/time for a regular garden, so I did container gardening.  If you want to do this, just make sure to use the right size pot for your plant. A little googling should be able to help you figure that out.

My biggest piece of advice is to make sure you have a drainage hole in your pot. And this goes for any container plant, including house plants. You know those cute little pots they sell at Ikea? None of them have drainage holes! What the heck. I don't even understand why they make them. I have taken to those pots with a screw driver and a hammer, drilling a hole in the bottom. Just be careful not to take out your frustrations and shatter the whole thing if you try this. I speak from experience.

Something else I recommend, especially if you want to stay organic, is compost. You don't have to start your own pile, you can pick up a bag of manure (Yes, I said manure) compost at a garden store. That stuff is black gold. It will fertilize for you without chemicals.

You can even use it as potting soil. I recently repotted my african violet in some compost, and now it's perky and loving it.  And it doesn't smell, I promise. Mushroom compost is also available at garden stores, but sometimes they have pesticides, so I'd avoid if you're trying to stay away from chemicals.

If you are interested in starting a vegetable garden,  I highly recommend the Vegetable Gardeners Bible by Ed Smith. This guy covers everything you'd want to know. It is definitely a worthy investment if you're going to save hundreds on buying produce over the summer.

I am no expert, but if you have any gardening questions, don't hesitate to contact me at my blog!

Happy gardening everyone!

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Thanks so much Jenny for such fantastic tips and tricks! Maybe when I have my yellow house, I'll be able to have my own garden too...

xoxo,