Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. When you click on these links (and pictures), I may receive a small commission – as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It will not cost you anything. I only share products and services that I truly believe in and think are great.
2022 Gardening
I am really excited about my new garden, so I swung by a nearby Home Depot and picked up a few plants to get me started. Only my green peas, and pumpkin seedlings were big enough to be transplanted, the rest of my seedlings are happily continuing to grow inside for now.
While I was picking up plants I got a few tomatoes, some lettuce varieties, and some herbs (the one’s I had last year didn’t make it through the winter.
A few things I learned from my gardening experiments from last year (you can read about them here) I will be continuing, and some were what I call “learning opportunities” (otherwise known as failures).
- I will continue to mulch with straw.
- I won’t be doing raised or container gardening – it just didn’t really work out for me.
- I will be utilizing eggshells and Epsom salts on my tomato plants.
- I won’t be attempting to grow potatoes.
Something New I’m Trying This Year
A large part of my new garden space has been designed for tomatoes. I love canning them, cooking them with fresh herbs, and sharing the bounty of my harvests.
After a review of my old garden space (vs the new plot) I realized that all my years growing tomatoes (that have had fairly decent yields) I’ve been growing them on the wrong side of the yard…they were only getting partial sun, and tomatoes love sunshine!
Putting the tomatoes in the sunnier plot will free up space for more greens and herbs (in case you don’t know, I LOVE fresh herbs).
There is an old saying:
“If you grow it for the fruit or the root, you need full sun.
If you grow it for the leaves, partial shade is all you need.”
Along with full sun, this year’s tomatoes are being planted with a whole egg underneath.
I know with rising inflation rates (FJB) some may be thinking, “That’s wasteful! I’d rather just eat the egg.” (My dad told me the same thing.) While eggs are a good source of protein for us, they are an excellent source of calcium and sulfur for plants. Calcium and sulfur are two nutrients tomato plants particularly crave.
If you are interested in more information about tomato crop nutrition, there are several articles about studies that have been done at Yara – just click here.
So…my first few tomato plants were planted on top of an egg (whole and uncracked).
I’ve got my “mater metrics” grid ready to go in my gardening journal so I will keep track of each plant’s production and compare this year’s yield to that of last year to see how these two changes impact my tomato harvest. I’ll keep y’all posted.
Keeping Track of Your Garden’s Production
Last year I got a blank notebook and carved up the pages with a pen so that I had columns and rows to track the harvest of the various parts of my garden… All I really cared about tracking in the end was the tomatoes. I shared a typable PDF document with y’all so that you could keep track too if you wanted. This year I have created a tangible Garden Journal that you can get to keep track of your garden metrics.
It has rows and columns for you to completely customize. I also included suggestions on how to set it up, but like I said, it is completely customizable so you can track what matters most to you – not what matters most to me.
It is available here at Amazon for just $5.99!
