To have a blog about gardening you should probably first have a garden. To have a garden you need a place to put said garden. Tonight I’ll tell you about what I’m working with.
THE SPACE
…is minimal. Seriously. I have an average size backyard. Nothing over the top or special. There is a yard with a privacy fence. I cannot even say that I’ve got good grass because I don’t. We’ve got a very lush and green weed mixture! I recently asked my husband if we should put out some weed and feed- his response- “well then all we’d have is dirt!” True. I love my backyard though (probably more than I should but it’s our first home so I see it through rose colored glasses!). There is one really good Post Oak shade tree but other than that the entire yard gets direct sun- all day. We get a lot of birds to the feeder that we have in that tree- Blue Jays, Cardinals, and Dove are the most frequent visitors 🙂 they are super fun to watch!
The chickens have their own small space is the back corner of the yard. This way they are 1) not ruining what little grass (weeds) I’ve got and 2) we don’t have to look at their coop every time we step outside. Seriously, it’s not very cute. I got completely ripped off by a friend who claimed to be a “carpenter” but that’s a story for another day.
THE BEDS
I chose to go with raised beds for my garden because of the above stated issue. My yard doesn’t grow grass very well so I don’t have a lot of faith that vegetables would do any better. My husband, “D”, built me 4 raised beds out of 8ft privacy fence pickets. They measure 4′ x 8′ each and are rectangle shaped. Obviously. I truly do not know why I felt the need to clarify that 🙂
We filled the beds with soil purchased for $60 a truck load from a local nursery.
THE PLANTS
There was no method to my madness when choosing plants for my garden. I wanted to plant things we would actually eat and I did not want to spend a whole lot of money. Here is a list of what I currently have planted:
Tomatoes
Arkansas Traveler
Celebrity
Homestead
Bush Goliath
Golden Jubilee
Husky Red Cherry
Early Girl
Peppers
Serrano
Jalapeño
Cayenne
Green Bell Peppers
Sweet Banana
Thai Hot Red
Lettuce
Romaine *started from seeds given to me by a dear friend.
Okra
Clemson Spineless
Cucumber
Straight 8
Boston Pickling
Onion
Purple *sprouted from part of an onion D threw in the dirt just to see if it would work. It does!
Yellow *given to me by my neighbor
Strawberry
I have no clue what kind this one is!
Number of total plants in my beds: 40
Total cost of plants: $60.00
I bought everything at my local feed store except the strawberry plant. It came from Home Depot.
I did try to be somewhat picky about the plants I bought. I inspected the leaves carefully and only chose plants that had no discolorations, small bugs, or visible damage. They all looked healthy and fresh.
There you have it! The foundation of my garden. I hope it will all come together and produce a great bountiful crop soon!
