As spring begins to warm the ground, my winter planning sessions are finally coming to fruition. We have begun our gardening adventure on our little farm! My wonderful husband fenced in a triangular portion of our yard. Though our fence is not pest proof, it is toddler proof. I can let my little girl run and play in the dirt while I work the beds. He also lined the fence with flower beds to give our garden a finished look. I planted several varieties of flowers that attract pollinators and supposedly deter pests. We have quite the variety of wildlife here on our little piece of land so I will take what I can get!

The layout of our garden is as follows, one small vegetable bed as you walk through the gate, a container of herbs directly to the right side of the gate, and a tomato plot as you move past the herbs. When you come to the end of the tomatoes the fencing comes to a point as you round the corner. If you continue along the fence you will see three berry bushes: One blueberry, one blackberry, and one raspberry. And finally as you come full circle you will run into the peach tree we planted last fall. All of my fruit producing plants are self pollinating so I don’t have to worry about planting more than I can handle. I decided to plant the tree near my plots in hopes of left over fruit falling into the beds and fertilizing future garden plants. I left plenty of space if I want to expand my beds in the future, but as of right now it makes a wonderful play space for our daughter!

I have done several container gardens over the years but have never singled handedly managed an in ground garden. With this in mind, I consulted with a few experienced gardeners within the family and decided to start small with things we eat every day. My initial grow list consisted of romain lettuce, basil, tomatoes, okra, and sweet banana peppers. Now, after a couple of impulse buys and some gifted starter plants, that list has grown to include golden bell peppers, cabbage, and broccoli. I also purchased a small hanging strawberry plant for my daughter that now resides on our back porch. I am slowly adding plants to the beds as the days warm and frost becomes less of an issue.

I placed our plants directly into tilled soil and used a spray attachment that waters and fertilizes for the initial water session. I have plans of repeating this fertilizing method weekly. I also plan to use the compost I make from our kitchen scraps to spread over the garden. I have not needed to worry about pest control at this point, but I do see issues with moles in our future. They are all over our yard and it is a matter of time before they figure out where the good stuff is.

And thus concludes the most recent updates to our gardening adventures!

Until next time…

The Ag Wife