#31 Days - Diggin Into the Veggies

 

While knowing what vegetables to plant (from last week's post), is an important first step, much, MUCH more needs to be done.  First, I will reiterate my revised list of vegetables I would like to have in the garden:
asparagus carrots celery corn cucumber lettuce onion potatoes spinach sugar beets
So, what does one need for a garden: 1.  A place to plant:  CHECK. 2.  Seeds.      a.  harvest from veggies we consume this year.      b.  a source of seeds would need to be found.           1.  local stores, gardens, farmers' markets, etc.           2.  online sources
Eden Brothers - Only place in over a day of searching that had sugar beet seeds. Territorial Seed Company - found through a search for heirloom seeds My Patriot Supply - found through a search for non-GMO seeds.
(I have no connection business or otherwise to, nor agreement with, any of the above businesses/sites.)
Now, we've planted seeds bought from local store which have grown and produced fruits and vegetables.  But there is a lot of literature out there about why heirloom and/or non-GMO (genetically modified organism) seeds are better for us and for the earth.  One such article is posted at Care2, a website dedicated to making the world a better place.
3.  Tools

(This photo is in the public domain, but I just wanted to say I found it on Wikimedia Commons.)
Basically, you need something with which to dig, something with which to rake and/or hoe, some clippers wouldn't go astray, some kind of tool to weed as needed.  If your garden is going to be larger than your average plot, looking into machinery is the next step.  
You need to decide where you fall on the granola scale.  On the one end, there are folks who want to use herloom seeds, organic fertilizer and only human or animal power.  On the other end is the type that I have been up till now.  I bought seeds at the dollar store, because it was too late in the season for Walmart to have seeds left on the shelves.  I used tools that had been laying around for decades until they broke, and Chris went to the nearby hardware/garden store.  We used some kind of fertilizer from a bag.  
See, hubby's family has farmed for generations.  Up until this year, I helped out in my mother's garden and I've grown a few things in pots.  So I have a LOT to learn.
This is where knowing what your values are can help you make decisions.  For 2014,  I'm going to see if my husband's great-uncle (a FT farmer) will do the initial plowing for us in exchange for getting hay for his animals from our field.  He has done it before when his sister (our Mamaw) was living.  I would like to transition to a method that uses more human and animal power as opposed to gas-powered machinery.  But that takes more time and physical activity.  That's not a bad thing ... I will have to balance the benefits of such activity with my abilities (and those of the family) as I get older.
This post is part of my 31 Days Challenge series.  For an overview of the posts, and links to each day's post, visit my introductory post here.
*+*+*+*+*
The October Daily challenge prompt for today is:
"Share a blogging/photography tip or tutorial."
Are you ready?
Respond to your comments and blog for the benefit of others.
Go here for links to more tips and/or tutorials.
*+*+*+*+*