Over the course of this spring semester, I am going to be attempting to grow my personal knowledge about gardening. This past winter I moved into my house which came with a large garden plot in the backyard. While excited that I may be able to attempt to grow some fresh produce, I knew that it would require a lot of knowledge… knowledge that I currently lack.

Growing up my mom always had a big garden full of flowers, vegetables, and fruit. On our family acreage, my grandma basically had her own grocery store worth of produce due to her enormous garden. There was nothing better than eating peas or carrots fresh from the ground! Previously, I have only ever been a consumer of the produce grown, and never had an impact on the process of growth. I am excited to change that!

As I’ve gotten older my interest in plants has begun to grow. I have a collection of indoor plants, which I have been partially successful at keeping alive. Unfortunately, I have been known to kill an indoor plant or two…oops! Therefore, I feel like a garden is a natural progression from indoor plants, which is why I am excited to put energy into learning all I can about gardening! Currently, I know that plants need water, soil, and sun to grow; and that is essentially where my knowledge ends. Luckily, with the use of technology information is at our fingertips. Social media applications are full of groups, users, and individuals sharing their knowledge on countless areas of expertise. I personally am planning on utilizing Tik Tok, YouTube, Google, and Facebook for my research. This specific Facebook group is Saskatchewan specific so I am hopeful it will have location specific tips and tricks. #Gardening on both Instagram and Tik Tok also produce endless informative content. YouTube videos such as this Gardening 101 video discuss how to start a garden for beginners. In addition to technology, I will also be supplementing my learning with face-to-face resources. Both my mom and grandma are encyclopedias when it comes to gardening!

In preparation for this learning project, I have already bought the seeds of the veggies I would like to grow and I have also rototilled my garden. At the recommendation of many, I have also already started my tomato and pepper seeds by planting them in soil indoors to ensure they have enough time to grow. However, they have not yet sprouted which makes me believe I may be better off purchasing a tomato plant and pepper plant that have already developed. My next steps for this learning project include educating myself on the sun and water requirements for each plant, learning when and how to best plant the seeds, and perhaps buying some plants that have already been established and will only need to be transplanted into my garden.  

Stay tuned for both my own and my plants growth over the next few weeks!