Fall Garden & Summer Lookback

At the beginning of summer, Mike and I started putting together half of our garden. We followed the system of Back To Eden.  If you have some time to watch this film, I highly encourage it as it encourages a fairly inexpensive, high yield, low maintenance garden (& it's free to watch on their website). Early this spring coming we'll build up the other half of the garden with compost & mulch and the entire garden will officially be done!

These next few photos were from the beginning of summer. We planted corn, radishes, cucumber, tomatoes, and bush beans. We wanted to keep it simple for our first season. Only one of those plants never sprouted and that was the tomatoes.I have a feeling that it was because 2 days after I placed the seeds to dirt, we had a horrible, awful heatwave. Like 117 degree heat index bad. So, my guess is it just killed off the seeds. Actually, it seemed to have done it to the cucumber plants as well but a few weeks later, lagging behind the rest of the plants, 2 small cucumber vines started growing.  How sweet it was to see two little survivors, and how well they've graced me with plump, juicy cucumbers. 

 Corn starting to grow.

 Bush Beans

 Radish harvest

 Here you'll see the beginning of fall crop. Our corn, cucumbers, and radishes are still growing but we added in 3 types of lettuce, a row of spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash, and carrots. Look at our beautiful sunflower guarding over the little seedlings.

 Zoe attempting to help, but really just wants to chase our rabbit, Riker, around the garden.

 Yesterdays harvest: about 1/2 pound bush beans, 2 corn, 1 cucumber, and a handful of radishes.

 Cucumber plants as of this morning. They're still doing great!!

This is where our corn is at now. I made the mistake this year of not planting multiple rows of corn (don't ask what I was thinking) so chances were that none of these plants would pollinate and produce ears of corn. Smart me, I made sure to shake the stalks a bit every other day and, TA-DA, we have corn!! 4 ears so far, and I see at least 4 more I'll be able to pick next week.

This week's project is weeding out the grass that crawled up onto the mulch. We did half the garden yesterday (as you can see from the fresh rows that were just planted), and while it's sweaty work out in the sun, it's really quite easy to pull out. Because of the way the grass crawled up the sides of the garden Mike put in a plastic barrier around the garden to prevent this from happening again. We definitely let the grass get way too far but every time we had a chance to work together to weed, it rained...like bad rain. Like, here's a video of our yard flooded.  Luckily, the garden was fine.

Here's to a bountiful harvest and my favorite season arriving, FALL!
-Lacey

Garden Fence: The Gate (Sneak Peak)

We've finally started working on the garden. Step one was getting the fence complete so that way, when we lay down the compost & wood chips the dogs can't run in and start digging holes. They seem to be fond of that activity.

The plan is to simply use rodent proof wire fencing ($25 for a 50 foot roll) for the border attached to metal stakes, and then chicken wire inside the actual gate (the remaining chicken wire will be used for the rabbit hutch). The gate is actually 2 gates, each 4' wide so when both are open we have an 8' opening to back the truck in to dump the compost/wood chips.

Sunday was spent building the gate, cutting the two wood posts, and then waterproofing all of the wood.  Since the waterproofing has to cure for 48 hours, we'll be putting up the gate tomorrow and then rolling out the metal fencing border. It's not a perfect fence. Nor is it really what I want permanently (I'd rather wood fencing), but since we're strapped on cash and trying to stick with our budget, buying $35 of fencing & chicken wire, $10 in wood, and about $20 in hardware, this is the most cost effective option. Plus, it'll hold up for a few years until we can afford to build a more stable, long-standing, wood fence.

Mike working hard in our dirty garage.

This is the chicken wire we're using for the inside of the gate.

Lining the inside of the gate.  See, I work hard, too.

This is just a sneak peak. Look out for an entire blog post on how to build the entire fencing system, including measurements, tools needed, hardware that we used, etc.  Hopefully it'll be up by the end of the week!

-Lacey

Gardening, pt I: The Setup

Before Mike and I even started house hunting, we made a list of requirements. These were 'must-haves' for our first home. There wasn't much on the list. We're fairly low-maintenance and don't require much space. In fact, many of the homes we saw within our price range we deemed 'too big'. Too many rooms. Far too much square footage.  It was more room than we knew what to do with. We don't need a living room and and family room. We don't need a dining room if the kitchen is already large enough to hold our table. Our requirements came down to a garage, for Mike's truck work, and a yard large enough for the dogs to run around and to hold a decent sized garden.  Really, that's about all it came down to.

Photo from nuchylee

As you can see, gardening was in our minds from the beginning. Luckily, the home we bought in October met both of those requirements. We were very lucky to get a 2 car garage and our large yard (almost a 1/4 acre).

Why gardening? Well, there's a few reasons for us. Firstly, Mike and I both grew up with parents who gardened. I can remember the hot summers running barefoot to the side of our home to pick off those juicy, plump tomatoes so Dad could start canning them for salsa and pasta sauce.  Or grabbing fresh cucumbers to use in salad or for the incredible Bread & Butter pickles my Dad would make.  And my favorite...string beans. To this day, they're still my favorite.  The nostalgia I get from being in a garden is worth going through he hard work myself to have one.

Secondly, our diet consists so much of fresh vegetables and fruits that not only will it save us money, but we'll get more of a variety of plants in our diet as well as consume only organic plants.  When we moved we had to start using a different grocery store. This store, while it meets most of our needs, doesn't have the variety of fruits & vegetables that our old store did. Also, options that are available don't always come in an organic version. Having our own garden meets our desires and budget. Plus, I can't even describe how much better fresh produce, right off the plant, tastes than eating the stuff in stores that has been shelved for weeks.  Knowing my food is safe and healthy makes nourishing my body so much easier.

Lastly, it's fun. Yes, it's hard work. Yes, it can be frustrating at times. But the satisfaction you get from producing your own food on the dinner table is exceptionally rewarding.  The soul-nourishing, health-rewarding, and memory-making benefits of gardening are something I look forward to.

Photo by happykanppy

So, last week, Mike and I sat down and started planning. Our blueprint for how the garden will be built, arranged, and planted is mostly complete.  We also have our list  of what we'll be planting, when we'll be planting, and when we'll be harvesting.  And thankfully friends from college and family members all with experience have been chiming in to help us out with research and planning. All of your advice has been greatly appreciated. While we grew up around gardening, planning it and doing it yourself is far different.

So, here's our setup, for now. This is our home with the backyard. The solid lines outlining the backyard is the fence. The dotted line down the right side 5 feet in is the easement we cannot build over.  Ignore Mike's truck backing into the fence to dump dirt. Haha. He has way too much fun as an engineer.  This is built to scale. The raised beds are 8'x4', and the two smaller ones in the front middle are for herbs and they are 3.5'x4'.  We're thinking about fencing it in to keep the dogs out.

Our bluprint. Garden located in the upper right corner of the yard.
Bottom left is east, top right is west. Bottom right is north, top left is south.

Planting list thus far:

Spinach

Carrots

Radish

Lettuce

Eggplant

Brussel Sprouts

Bell Peppers

Potatoes

Cantaloupe

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Green Beans

Onions

Leeks

Broccoli

& Lots of herbs!

So, this is our plan so far. I'll keep you all posted on how the process continues with building, prepping seeds, and all that goodness. Consider this a free view into what works and what fails miserably. We're learning as we go and hopefully you can live vicariously through our gardening adventures.  More than anything, I hope you're inspired to start your own. Even if it means having 2 pots of something, or a small herb garden in your kitchen window.

Also, any hints, tips, or advice...please leave it as a comment! While the books I've been reading help, nothing is better than personal experience. 

Oh--I have a thing for naming things. My Kawasaki motorcycle is "Sweet Dee".  I've been thinking of naming the garden, just for fun. Maybe to get a little sign made to put out front of it. My first thought was "The Not-So-Secret Garden". Yay or nay?

To dirty hands and fresh food,
Lacey