This is our first attempt at planning a legitimate garden, so we're no experts. But as usual, we've done our research and found a plethora of resources on the U of I Extension website. In my opinion, the first step in planning a garden should be determining what veggies will grow well in the area. I have a feeling that there are guides like this for many states in the US, likely provided by a public university or agricultural organization.
My goals in this endeavor were to figure out 1. which veggies grow well in containers 2. which grow well in Chicago (or northern Illinois in general) 3. when they should be planted. This was a (mostly) straightforward process. There was a guide for Making Herb and Vegetable Containers in additon to an Illinois Vegetable Garden Guide.
The first guide indicated proper container sizes and outlined which varieties of veggies would grow well in containers. The second guide provided complete instructions for when and what to plant in central Illinois. But we don't live in central Illinois, so this was mildly confusing. I did some research on climate zones, and it did appear that Chicago is in the same zone as central Illinois. There are, however, slight differences that are actually noted on the second guide. Thank goodness Shane can read or I wouldn't have figured this out so easily. It mentions:
"For southern Illinois March-June plantings can be made approximately 2 weeks earlier and July-September plantings 2 weeks later than for central Illinois. For northern Illinois March-June plantings should be about 2 weeks later and July-September plantings about 2 weeks earlier than for central Illinois."
So my guide below has adjusted dates specifically for northern Illinois (just be aware that I did the math in my head, so if you're someone who likes to do things by the book, be sure to double check that my numbers are correct).
I went ahead and combined the information from those two pages, along with the adjusted planting periods, into a spreadsheet and turned it into the image below:
Based on our chart, we've decided that we'll plant on two different weekends:
- April 27 - Spinach and Parsley
- May 26 - everything from Lettuce to Eggplant
This means our next action item is to find seeds and plants. I used to plant with my mom in Wisconsin, we would buy plants from my high school's agriculture department. Students in the ag classes would plant in the greenhouse and have a sale each spring. But that's not going to be the most convenient thing for us this year.
We have a few ideas about how to tackle this step, but would love your help. Have you planted a garden from seeds before? Or only from plants? Or maybe a combination? We want to hear what worked for you.
