Gardening sounds like a nice idea, even relaxing to some. Getting the garden beds ready for the next planting season, growing, and harvesting. It all sounds like a fairly simple task. It sounds like, “bury some seeds in some dirt and water it, and watch it grow”. It is way more complicated than that. There is a great amount of planning that goes into getting your garden ready and starting off seeds correctly so they are healthy and strong plants. While I do find gardening such a great stress reliever, it is actually because of all the work that goes into it! I thought I would share my planning process for the first growing season of ONE3 Urban Gardens.

1. Find a quality organic seed supplier. I chose to go with a local one and have been impressed thus far. Florida Backyard Vegetable Gardener Heirloom Seeds through Growin’ Crazy Acres. The company hand picks the seeds they sell for Florida, acclimates them to the climate, environment and area and then sells seeds and also starter plants.
2. Come up with a plan for starting seeds. I decided to grow my plants by seed this time instead of starters. Since the climate is great here and we haven’t had any storms, I have been leaving my starter plants outside all day on the porch to grow. I mixed organic compost, cow manure, and potting soil to create the soil for planting. I water once a day and if any severe weather approaches, they are set inside the covered lanai to prevent weather damage.
3. Decide on the style of garden. There are many different ways to set up a garden ranging from small space window boxes and container growing to trendy raised beds, and traditional in ground line gardens. For some great ideas, check out Better Homes and Gardens. Based on cost and appearance, I chose to go with low raised beds and trellis arches.
4. Create your garden layout. Deciding where plants should go within the garden is an important part of planning. Just like people, there are companion plants and plants that do not like each other. You should also consider direction of the garden in terms of sunlight and plan out higher growing plants vs. short plans. Make sure all plants will receive adequate sunlight.
5. Put it all together and get started. For reference, here is my first ONE3 Urban Gardens Plan. I am so excited to get started on the garden beds this weekend. I will continue to share pictures as I go through the process.

Growing your own food is an exciting venture. Your first harvest is even more exciting. What are you waiting for? Get started today! Anyone can do it.