I live in the Bay Area, specifically in Alameda county. That means my growing season is long and my summers are hot and dry. I’m starting this blog off with little gardening experience.

Before I talk about my current garden, I want to tell you about the little gardening experience I have coming into this project. During the summer of 2014 I was living in Indiana and decided to get a plot in the local community garden. It was a 40′ x 40′ plot and, quite frankly, I had no clue what I was doing. I put a bunch of seeds in the ground and hoped for the best. Looking back, I’d call it a moderate success. I had a lot of swiss chard, cucumbers, squash and tomatoes. But I lost a lot of plants to disease, pests and weeds. Oh, the weeds! A week after I planted my seeds I came back to my plot and it was covered in grass and weeds. I spent hours digging up grass and searching for my seedlings, usually with little success. I never won the battle. My garden always looked like a plot that someone abandoned.

Since then, my husband and I moved to California and bought a house with a great backyard. Our yard came with three rose bushes and a fence-full of blackberries. And then, to top it all off, my husband built me two 4′ x 8′ raised garden beds. So I am set. My goal is to grow my food organically and only use sustainable gardening practices. I try to start all of my plants from seed, and only buy heirloom, non-GMO seeds. I just ordered a worm composting farm and hope it will satisfy all of my fertilizing needs. My goal is to grow enough fruits, vegetables, and herbs so that I don’t buy any produce at the grocery store over the summer. And eventually, I want to extend that to all-year round. My other goal…. to get some egg-laying chickens!