a helpful little blog

For Gals who want to Garden

But don’t know how to start

what the type a gardener is all about

learning by trying

The greatest way to learn is to get your hands in the dirt and try - even if that results in failure. Each attempt at growing something new creates opportunities to assess, correct and plan for the future. Initially, expect failure and delight in the success as each offers a different perspective to learn. Remember that the only person who can best advise you on how to grow in your garden is you - there’s not a book or blog that can give you as much perspective as you can give yourself when you try.

organized planning

Gardening is complicated and requires forethought, so I strongly believe that the better organized you are and more planned out you can be, the greater success you will have. This may be as simple as having a single notepad to jot down what’s happening in the garden or an intricate spreadsheet with each plant, growing season and harvest notes… either way I’ll help you to start out small and provide you even my most complicated spreadsheets.

easy to follow steps

As beginning gardeners, information overload is a barrier to getting started so I believe that gardening needs to start out easy by breaking it up into simple steps. Over time as you gain confidence in your gardening skills, you can continue to follow those steps while also adding in more knowledge over time. If we treat our gardening journey as if we are kindergartners starting out by playing in the dirt, each year we will grow and each step we learned along the way will become second nature.

my planting perspective

zone 9 - where it’s hot and sunny

southern california

It’s important to know that my experience and point of view come from the dry, hot Southern California climate. Of course, many of my tips and general planting guides will be helpful for anyone, no matter what zone you’re in, but if you ask me if you should plant carrots in the snow or what to do in April when it’s still below zero… I’ll simply reply with a shrugging emoji because I truly don’t know.

When I first started gardening, I quickly realized that most of the information written on seed packets or those plastic planting cards are NOT one size fits all when it comes to planting zones, especially when it comes to my garden where the sun is a strong presence no matter what month it is.

square foot gardening

I’ve spent the last year testing out the Square Foot Gardening Method by Mel Bartholomew after randomly getting a free 1980s copy from someone in my local Buy Nothing group. It opened up a world of simple, Type A planning and organization that I desperately needed to manage my home garden. You’ll hear me talk more about this and see that much of my gardening techniques and layout follow this plan. I suggest finding a copy… but maybe opt for a newer version.

What Defines Zone 9

Specific problem points

These are the main issues that plague Zone 9 that I’ll often be facing:

Drought like conditions
80-100+ degree weather 6+ months of the year and random heat waves even in winter
Sandy, dry soil
10+ hours of direct sunlight

there are also many benefits

There are some wonderful perks of growing in Zone 9 that make many gardeners envious of this area, including:

Year round planting
Zero frost
Low humidity
Less pests (but the ones we have still cause big plant problems)
No deer

know your zone

Don’t know your plant hardiness zone? Click Here to find out simply by entering your zip code. Knowing your planting zone is Step 1 to ensuring you find the right crops, timing and information for your unique location.

beyond the raised beds

take a seat, Let’s talk about more than just gardening.

Of course, your life is about more than just gardening and so is mine. My desire is to provide a real, honest look at everything from our marriage, our home and our faith that go beyond the instagrammable moments and poke at the messiness of life to make you laugh, help you feel that you’re not alone in whatever you may be going through and ideally start an open conversation. I intend to share my passions for hosting and preparing meals and so much more by opening the doors of our house wide open in hopes we find commonality, grow through intentionality and connect in our differences as much as our similarities. Thanks for joining me in this journey, I look forward to meeting you.