We started a garden here in Tampa about a month ago during the new moon in January. Here is a photo of the raised bed right after planting the seeds. We used a raised bed here because of the sandy soil conditions. By starting out with a soil mixture from "The Square Foot Gardener"
we were able to start from a good basis of loose, healthy soil. Now we just add compost to the garden after harvesting in order to replinish what we have used.
The rain barrel was a simple garbage can that I modified into a rain catchement system. Here in Tampa we have long dry spells as well as limited water resources. Our aquifer here is very shallow and the population here is too much for it. The water is being pumped out much faster than it is being replinished. It was easy for me to build this rain barrel so I can catch some of the water to use for later.
The compost pile has been working out beautifully. Now that we have enough leaves thanks to a neighbor's large live oak tree, we can create a nice mix of fresh food scraps and leaves. Having the proper balance of nitrogen rich material(green stuff) and carbon rich material (brown stuff) is critical. It is recommended to have a 75% carbon to 25% nitrogen ration so it's important to have a good amount of leaves, dry grass, sawdust, or other "brown stuff" handy near your compost pile.
We planted our greens crowded on purpose. Now that things are sprouting, we can enjoy the microgreens while at the same time thinning the plants to leave room for other plants to grow to maturity. Some of these we will harvest as full heads of lettuce and other greens and others we will even let go to seed and save the seeds for next year.
Here's a little video of the progress so far of our garden!
Stay inspired, do what you can, plant seeds.
