Bag o' Greens

What's better than getting fresh, organic veggies from your local farmer's market?  Having your aunt grow them in her garden and give you them for free!  Look at this bag of greens she gave me from her garden.

Don't they look awesome?  There is a mix of two different types of lettuce, arugula, spinach, and broccoli.  My aunt has had a garden ever since I can remember and now she's doing everything organic.  I'm really happy because I have someone to ask for gardening advice!  I really want to start a garden but I have severely brown thumbs.  Really.  I can't even keep a house plant alive.  I did try to start an herb garden once, but the darn squirrels ate everything I planted.  Who knew squirrels ate things like garlic and swiss chard? 

For you gardeners out there, here is some advice she gave me: 
Before you plant, mix compost and cow manure in the soil.  (You can even buy these things at Walmart these days.  Not that I support Walmart---I'm just sayin'.)
After you see leaves shooting up, put fish emulsion on it.  I've never heard of this, but you mix a teaspoon of it in a gallon of water and put it on once a week.  My aunt says that her garden absolutely took off when she did this.  It makes sense.  When you use conventional fertilizer, you're only putting 3 nutrients on.  Fish emulsion provides a whole spectrum of nutrients.  (Also, didn't the Indians bury a fish in the ground when they planted corn?  They knew what they were doing.)

I think I'm going to start small and try an herb garden again, but I'm going to see if I can make a cage or something to keep those pesky squirrels out!