When David and I were dreaming up this house, we pictured a lot of things. Some of the biggest dreams had to do with outside our home: a chicken coop, fruit trees, basketball for the kids, and a garden being among the most highly anticipated. Watching these things begin to come to life is nothing short of pure magic for me!
Let me first say I’m a very green gardener. Green in the newbie sense, not the green thumb sense. I’ve grown tomatoes and peppers in pots previously and even planted an adorable little garden David built for me that was unfortunately far too shaded to grow much of anything. But here we have a little more space, drench in sunshine, and I’m hopeful for better results. I’ve tried to set things up well and while I’m doing my best to keep my expectations low, I’m pretty pumped about simply getting to participate in the process.
Hats off to David and the girls who helped level the garden area and assemble my garden beds. I went with Vego Garden Beds after hearing nothing but rave reviews and thus far am pleased with the quality. Mine are the large modular variety, 17″ deep. I added two trellises, then begin to fill the beds using the lasagna method.
What is the lasagna method? It’s a method of filling a raised bed to deter weeds, encourage organic matter breakdown, and not have to spend so much money on soil. First we put hardware cloth along the very bottom of each bed to prevent pests from digging up into the garden. The next layer was cardboard, sans any plastic tape, as it will help prevent weeds and eventually breakdown. Next was organic material, a mix of brown and green, so we used small logs, sticks, dried leaves, old flowers, and even some odds and ends of fresh produce that could go in a compost pile. Finally we topped it off with soil. A neighbor recommended a kind that gets delivered in these giant yellow bags and while it was quite the task for David and I to shovel it out of the bag and into the gardens, it does seem like great soil.
While I’d love to grow from seed in the future, this year was all about plant starts for me. I got my tiny plants from a combination of places: some tomatoes from a friend who grew from seed and had extra plants, Country Boys Garden Center, and a plant sale that I saw advertised on Instagram at Wild Orchard Homestead that a neighborhood friend attended and procured a purple Cherokee and an Estiva tomato variety. I’ll take ALL the tomatoes, please.
I imagined I would take time to draw out an intricate plant, carefully curated with companion plant consideration, spacing perfected, and every t crossed and i dotted. But I did not. And I’m totally fine with it. I had an idea of what I wanted to try to grow based on what we’d eat. I knew this would be a learning year. I wanted this to be fun and fun it has proven to be!
I see these online gardeners with incredible lush, full beds and I have a goal to get there in time. This summer I’m planting some basics to observe and learn from and I’ll take it from there. Here’s what I’ve planted in each 4’x8′ modular raised bed:
- Bed one: two yellow squash plants, cherry tomatoes for the trellis and cucumber for the trellis.
- Bed two: two jalapeno plants, two bell pepper plants, cherry tomatoes for the trellis and cucumber for the trellis.
- Bed three: parsley, dill, thyme, marigolds, pole beans for the trellis.
- Bed four: five tomato plants (different varieties), basil, marigolds, pole beans for the trellis.
I think I still have ample space in the herb garden bed and probably even some room in the pepper bed, so if you are an experienced gardener, I welcome your input and suggestions! If you’re a newbie like me, follow along as I learn what works, what doesn’t, what pests plague me, and my inevitable bountiful harvests (just seeing if you were still listening…).
I plan to keep it all organic, so I have no doubt there will be some obstacles along the way. We have a great sprinkler that I adjust to a lower pressure and it covers the bed perfectly. I hear drip lines are the way to go, but baby steps.
I’m so excited to watch this dream of mine come true and praying that I got even the tiniest sliver of my Nannie’s green thumb. She could grow the most incredible vegetables in Georgia’ clay dirt. Now, she did have the help of Seven dust, which I won’t, but still… 😉 Fingers crossed!
