I have a vegetable garden this year!
I wanted it last year, but by the time we had it all planned, it was a bit late to do it. So when it came time to build it this year, we were ready!
Our Garden Plan
This book I read, Food Grown Right, In Your Backyard, goes over all aspects of planning your garden from start to finish. I actually read about a dozen gardening books (I am like that – when I want to do something, I want to do it right, so I do a lot of research), and that is the book I like best.
Raised Bed Design: Comb Shape
That same book goes over several types of designs for your backyard. We looked over a lot of options and chose the “Comb” shape. We thought it would give us an easy-to-set-up watering system, room to grow a lot of things, and easy access to all parts of the garden without having to bend over too much. We also made it 2 feet tall, as well. That way, I won’t have to bend over a lot to work in the garden.
I got garden box soil from Replenish Compost in Murray. They will blow the soil directly into your garden, but by the time I called they were booked out 6 weeks, so we had them dump it on our driveway and did the old wheelbarrow thing (luckily, about 20 neighbors showed up to help and it only took about an hour).
We planned to do more “vertical” gardening by adding structures to allow the plants to grow tall. I saw an amazing trellis at a garden tour last year, made out of sheep fencing. We got two sections of fence – they were only about $27 each, but were a pain to bring home in our truck – and placed them over our beds.
Adding Plants
I grew a lot of plants from seed in our garage. We did eventually purchase a basil plant, but everything else in this garden was grown from seed! I got organic seeds from Seed Savers and organic fertilizer (my favorite is Down to Earth). My husband sprayed a very non-organic grass killer over the whole area before installing the beds, though, so it’s not really an organic garden.
My work team had to do a service project in May (we got paid for it – isn’t that awesome!), and planting was the project. I made a plan for us all to follow.