Dear Friends,

Lets get our family involved in starting a little garden. I know you have some pots hiding in the garage. All you need is a little patch of dirt.

I’ll bet many of you don’t know that I used to be a farmer. I loved the smell of tilled earth. Our farm was in the flat land of the Mississippi River flood plain in Kentucky Bend. After my step-father died, I ran a 1500 acre farm.

We can grow plants from seeds or from little plants that you can buy at the hardware store. You can buy a bundle of onion sets for very little money. All you really need to know is that the root end goes down. This can be a fun way grow some food for your family and make a few memories. Some of my favorite things to eat from the garden is radishes, green onions, and mustard greens or lettuce.

Today I am going to take some potatoes that have sprouted eyes and plant them in a pot on my front porch. Tiny new potatoes are so good in a mess of fresh green beans. I have two white potatoes and a few red ones. These will taste so good in a couple of months. Sweet potatoes are easy to grow too.

Cooking with herbs is a wonderful way to add flavor to your meals. I have one little seedling of basil that I am going to add to one of my front porch pots and then sprinkle seeds in the pot for a few more plants to transplant to other pots in a few weeks.

One of the things to remember about growing herbs it to pinch the top out of them to keep them from going to seed. This also keeps the plants from getting leggy. When you pinch the top out of a plant it helps to make more branches.

Squash is an easy plant to grow too. The more you pick the fruit of a squash; the more squash it will give you. We all love tomatoes (except my Sweet Darling). My favorite variety of tomato is a Roma. It is an oval tomato what is great for making sauces and salads. It is not a huge plant. Children love to plant and eat little grape tomatoes or Tommy toes ( small cherry tomatoes).

Strawberry plants grow quickly and produce fruit that children can pick. Put the plants in a strawberry pot or in a raised bed. They will make runners( more plants) and the plants will live for several years.

Go buy some seeds today! Don’t forget to get some sunflower seeds and marigold seeds. The birds love sunflower seeds. Marigolds are great companion plants for any garden. They help to keep bugs away.

Have fun today! Enjoy digging in the dirt. You will reap the fruits of your labor in no time.

FlyLady