OUR GARDEN

Gardening has always intrigued me but truth be told I have really never been interested in growing my own until this year. I have been so busy raising two small children the past three years that it hasn’t been top of mind and I certainly wasn’t in the head space to even think about adding something additional to take care of.

This summer, I’m finally feeling in a better place mentally and am getting back to things I enjoy outside of being a mom. My toddlers, while still toddlers, are gaining more independence and play so well together that I feel I have the time and energy to try gardening for the first time and I’m excited to see how it goes! After lots of research, I decided I would like to start with two raised beds. My husband so kindly built two 5ft x 2.5ft beds in our backyard. He used pre-treated wood so we decided to line them just as a precaution, though I have since learned that you really don’t need to.

This area of our backyard used to be a mulch bed. We had three large bushes that we removed and planted grass in its spot instead. Inside the beds, we filled them up with that mulch and soil that we already had and then topped them with some mushroom compost. A great tip that I have learned through my research is to place cardboard at the bottom to prevent weeds from growing and you can fill with brush and sticks to fill up some of the space, saving you money on soil. When it came to planning our garden, I used a very helpful app called Planter. This app lets you successfully plan out what to plant based on the size of your garden area. You can choose your plant and see what other plants make great companion plants and which would be combative. This app really made my whole planning experience so much easier. Without prior gardening experience, I found it saved me so much time and energy and I’m so happy with what I decided on. Now the fun part, let’s talk about what I planted!

Bed One: From left to right and top to bottom I planted: Lettuce, Jalapeños, Marigolds, Basil, Roma Tomatoes, Chives, Carrots

Bed Two: Kale, Mint, Cucumber, Cilantro, Cherry Tomatoes, Habaneros, Onions

After planting, I decided to add more marigolds on the four corners to help with pest control and pollination. Once a flower dies, I pinch it off and just add the seeds back into my garden along the border. I am in Zone 8 so I didn’t plant until May. Most of my plants I transplanted so I have already begun to use my herbs but mid-summer I should hopefully start to see some tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. The carrots, I started from seed in the garden. I’m excited to see how this first season of growing goes for me and I will definitely post an update in the fall on what worked and what I will do differently next year.