I've had a garden for the past three years, and I can say I absolutely think it is work the work. In years past, Connor and I had started our plants from seed, but this year we had a lot going on, so we opted to pick up plants from Lowe's. We set aside a couple of days to focus on this task and made it into a fun outing with our girls.
The Plan
We like to plan our garden by drawing out each bed and designating an area for each plant. Luckily, we have some perennial herbs, lettuce, and asparagus that come back every year, so those will always be in the same spot! I'm so happy I have this garden journal now. I can reference what we did in years past, we can make sure we are rotating plants, and the soil isn't getting depleted of nutrients.
Getting the Garden Beds Ready
This was a huge task, since we waited till the last possible frost in May to plant, and we had not done anything with the beds until now. We got a cultivator to help us get the old soil and new soil ready for the plants! This tool made getting the beds ready a bit easier! It helped weed out the grass that had started to grow, so we didn't have to weed everything by hand.
Planting!
Picking up plants from Lowe's is so convenient; however, sometimes the plants are a bit root-bound. When this happens, it's important to help the roots a bit by loosening them up, which will help the plant root into their new home. There were some plants we started from seed, were you just put them straight into the ground! Another neat tool we got was an auger attachment for a drill, which made it so easy to plant! We followed our plant layout plans, and before we knew it was done and ready for the first watering!
Our Plants
Vegetables:
- Asparagus (perennial)
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- San Marzano tomatoes
- Cherry tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Green beans
- Peas
- Bell Peppers
- Jalapenos
- leaf lettuce
- Strawberries, not a Vegi, but I planted a couple in some hanging baskets!
Herbs:
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Oregano
- Basil
- Parsley
- Cilantro
- Dill
Watering
Connor installed our sprinkler system a couple of years ago, it was really expensive even doing it DIY, but without this, I don't think we would ever have a harvest, grass, or flowers. We set ours to water for ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes midday, this has worked well for us in the past years.
Keeping up and Growth
One on the hardest parts of gardening is keeping up with weeds! since we don't want to use any insecticides or chemicals around plants we are hoping to eat, we have to manually pull the weeds. I usually find myself outside playing with girls so hopefully ill remember to look for the weeds and pull them, but ill also be setting a reminder on my phone to go off every evening to get me and Connor out there taking care of it.
I am so excited to see what my garden is able to produce this year! for sure I know I can count on getting some cherry tomatoes, every year its grow like a weed! I'm so thankful to have this space, to not have to buy everything from the store but to know exactly were some of my family's food is coming from. I'm excited to share more of my garden as the growing season continues! Ill be posting more often on Instagram so Make sure to follow along so see how my garden is doing! Until next time see ya!
Isaiah 61:11
For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden enables seed to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
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