My 2nd year gardening - Lessons Learned

During my 2nd year of gardening in 2022, I decided to be a bit more prepared when it came time to start my seeds so I came up with a color coded list of all my seeds so that when I would plant each kind of seed I could quickly put a colored tip toothpick into the soil so I would know what it was I planted into each pot instead of having to write down what each one was and taping the name onto the pots. I also decided to plan out which seeds I was going to start indoors and which ones I was going to wait until it got warm enough outside to direct sow them (plant the seeds into their final pots outside). And I decided to draw up a little chart and figure out how many seeds of each kind of plant I wanted to grow that year. I'm a very visual person so having the colored toothpicks and the diagram to look at when I planted the seeds just made it a lot easier on my brain.

And something else I did differently my second year of gardening was to have a printed out list of how deep to plant each seed so I didn't have to keep looking it up on my phone every time I started planting a new kind of seed. This made the whole seed starting process go a lot smoother and faster this time around!

My new method of seed starting in 2022.

I also decided to keep better notes this time around and to try a few different types of lighting. I ended up trying the classic window sill lighting, the LED full spectrum grow tent light and a 10,000 Lux Full Spectrum UV-Free LED Sun Light to see which one would produce the best seedlings.

My seedlings under the LED full spectrum grow tent light.

My seedlings under the 10,000 Lux Full Spectrum UV-Free LED Sun Light.

My 3 groups of seedlings that were under different kinds of lighting side by side to compare the results.

Turns out that the ones under the grow tent LEDs (aka the purple lighting) produced the thickest stemed seedlings. Which makes sense since the LED full spectrum grow tent lights provide 4 different colored lights: red (630-660nm), blue (440-470nm), IR (730-740nm) and white (8000-10000K) and therefore provides the best wavelength for all growth stages.

Something else that was different my second year of gardening is that Shawn had been taking mental notes in 2021 of how my tomato plant pots tipped over easily when it was windy out because they were very top heavy. So being the smart and awesome guy that he is he decided to weld me some tomato plant pot stabilizers so they wouldn't tip over anymore!

This was my method in 2021 of trying to keep them from tipping over in the wind.

And this is my new method in 2022 of keeping the tomato plant pots from tipping over!

The welded metal pot stabilizers work great and I haven't had any issues with my tomato plant pots tipping over any more so that's awesome! Thanks Shawn!! 😊❤️

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And with the start of a new gardening season comes the joy of trying new kinds of seeds!

Some new additions to my 2022 garden was growing melons! 😍🍈🍉 I decided to try 3 different kinds: Golden Midget watermelons, Minnesota Midget Cantaloupes and Banana melons.

One of the Minnesota Midget cantaloupe melons hanging out in a hammock on August 9th 2022. You can also see a baby Golden Midget watermelon in the bottom left hand corner of this photo 😊

One of the banana melons next to my hand on August 9th 2022. I was very surprised at how large these melons ended up getting by the time I harvested them in September!

Two of many a Minnesota midget cantaloupes and a golden midget watermelons that I harvested in September 2022 cut open.

One of the banana melons I harvested in September 2022 cut open.

One other thing that was new during my 2nd year of gardening was that we tried canning for the first time! We ended up going with a Presto 01755 16-quart aluminum canner pressure cooker and I'm super happy that we chose that one since it is really easy to use and it also doubles as a boiling water canner to use for jams, jellies, salsa, etc.!

Shawn canning pickles.

The habanero jelly we made poured into jars right before we put it in the canner.

Shawn putting the habanero jelly jars into the canner.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

And because I love posting pictures of the harvests I had during each garden year, here are some harvest pictures from my 2022 gardening season!

Harvesting some cilantro from my window sill garden.

Some jalapenos, cucumbers, basil, green beans, Gobstopper cherry tomatoes and Sub Artic Plenty tomatoes.

Cucumbers, green beans, cucamelons, Sub Artic Plenty tomatoes, Gobstopper cherry tomatoes, Wapsipinicon Peach tomatoes, a bell pepper and a chili pepper.

A plate full of red and green jalapenos and a couple of habanero peppers.

Cucumbers, cucamelons, Gobstopper cherry tomatoes, Minnesota Midget cantaloupes, a banana melon, a Sub Artic Plenty tomato and a bell pepper.

A bunch of Minnesota Midget melons ripened at the same time. Good thing they are mini cantaloupes so we were able to eat them all before they got too ripe!

My russet potato harvest.

Growing these russet potatoes was another fun new addition to my 2022 garden that I hadn't grown my first year of gardening. We ended up having some potatoes in our pantry that had started sprouting and since I was now a "Grower of Things" (aka a Gardener 😜) I looked up how to grow russet potatoes and gave it a try! They turned out great! 😄

My carrot harvest for the year.

I grow my carrots on the top layer of my Green Stalk Vertical Planter and it works out great! The big bushy carrot top greens grow tall and also really fills in the top of the planter wonderfully! 😊

So yeah, overall all it was a wonderful 2nd year of gardening! I learned even more and I really enjoyed spending time out in my garden! It really makes my heart happy!

☀️ 🌲🌳🌱🌿🌹🌱🌿🌼🌱🌿🌷🌱🌿🌻🌳🌲

🐦🐝🦋

😊💚