Some things that have made gardening easier this year. They cost money and you don’t need to spend a lot to get into gardening. We have tried just about everything up here on the hill and at this point in our lives we have a pretty good idea of what has worked for us and what has not. We fight the woods, meaning not having a lot of sunlight, leaves, trees/branches falling, and all the critters. We fight bad dirt, it’s mostly rocks up here with some clay and landfill quality dirt. We fight access to water, not as bad as what some have but enough to make keeping the garden well watered a chore.
When we first moved here we tried to do the traditional in ground garden. Tilled up the land, pulled out rocks by hand, bought little plants and put them in nice neat rows. In less than a week they were all not just dead but gone.
We bought railroad ties and made a border then trucked in “good” dirt and filled that in ground bed. We bought plants, tucked them into nice neat rows and they died or disappeared.
We extended the chicken fence to surround the bed and repeated. This time the chickens helped destroy the bed and the one sole tiny blueberry bush.
We repeated this only in a different part of the chicken run with a tall divider fence. First attempt racoons got in which was terrifying. Second try chickens got in and then three smallish children followed to chase the chickens out. The devastation was complete.
For a number of years I gave up, until I discovered Square Foot Gardening. We also had the sawmill. Bill milled down some trees that had fallen and for mother’s day he built me a secret garden behind the shop. It has 8 ft secure fencing on all sides with two locking man doors. We put down wire on the ground to keep the diggers out and built 4′ x 4′ x 12″ beds. Then ran string to create 12″ x 12″ grids in the boxes, bought plants and things grew!
To say that the struggles were all done would be a lie. We had some beds outside the fence and I regularly came out to the baby plants pulled out, boxes tipped over, and plants just gone. We have moles, voles, mice, deer, raccoons, chipmunks, squirrels, possums, rats, cats, stray dogs, foxes, ground hogs, all manner of birds and every single one of these things wants the garden dead. If it’s not protected by 8′ secure fencing it’s not going to make it. Even in the secure area we have to start everything inside. No direct planting. We don’t put corn out till it’s tall enough to have used up all the kernel or diggers dig them up to eat the seed. Same with peas only add to that birds who love to eat the young shoots as much as the actual pea seed. If we don’t protect the berries the birds get them. We do plant some just for the birds and protect the ones for us. Add to all this insects and all the other normal garden issues and it’s a challenge. Plus we have to do all this on the small parts of our land that are flat enough and get sun. Things don’t mature as fast up here, when others are harvesting or planting we might still have weeks to go. Learning what works here takes time. In the past 18 or so years we have learned that raised bed gardens work better. Auto watering systems are not needed, they have made our lives so much easier and freed up so much time on a daily basis. Plus in the past year we have been able to leave for a week and not come back to find everything dead. In addition to the raised beds we have used large plastic totes and cloth grow bags. We have filled the beds with soil and we have filled the bottoms with wood and covered that in dirt. We have put bags in kiddie pools with holes in them and used that to bottom water. We have bought roofing to make beds, used PVC to make frames, done cattle panel arches. If you have seen it on Youtube we have probably tried it. Here is where things are at now, you can click on the pictures to go to the Amazon link (we do not have an affiliate account the links are only to make it easier for you to find the items.):
We have a mix of 2′ tall raised beds as well as 12″ – 18″ beds. The taller ones use metal roofing the shorter ones we have been buying.
One down side to metal beds, especially if you use roofing material, is that the edges can be sharp, especially the corners. We used wood to assemble our first boxes, adding wooden trim to the top. The newer boxes we built from roofing were put together with PVC. I tried using pool noodles to cover the sharp edges but these do not hold up at all. I discovered this car door edging and it works great.
For years I’ve bought plants and saved all the pots and trays they came in. In recent years Bill has been buying pots and trays from Bootstrap Farmer via Amazon. The last order was placed directly from Bootstrap and it not only was less expensive it also came a week earlier than Amazon could deliver.
Landscape fabric is a debated topic, we decided to use it. It helps to detract the diggers coming up into the beds. It also keeps the diggers, like chickens and dogs from digging out of the garden. Plus keeping the forest at bay. The weeds in the area we have our garden were out of control, it was a constant battle just to be able to walk back there. As I get older I want more joy and less work. Our entire garden is covered in weed barrier and we put the beds on top of that. I like this one, a lot, and we have tried plenty of them.
We have 1 large 10′ x 20′ greenhouse of the white material, 1 smaller 7′ x 12′ greenhouse of the green material, many of the 4’x4′ Aldi greenhouses also of the green material and soon to have greenhouse toppers for the raised beds. The larger greenhouse is not even secured down yet because we want to move it back a bit. The smaller greenhouse is secured to a wooden frame that is secured to the ground with rebar. The Aldi greenhouses are not secured and tend to blow around if there are not plants in them. The box covers are exciting. We have used PVC frames that we made and then covered in plastic. They worked great and we were able to start planting things like lettuce, spinach, and brassicas outside by March. Biggest downside is the plastic. It is a pain to put on and keep it attached. We have used tape and the pvc clips and it works. These premade covers that fit the boxes are exciting and we can’t wait to get them built and tested. On the big greenhouses one of the biggest problems has been the zippers. I’ve seen videos of people changing them out or fixing them but the problem is the material they are made from doesn’t play nice with tape or glues. Eventually those zippers will rip out. We always intended to build actually doors for them so that we didn’t need to worry about the zippers but haven’t gotten to it yet. The little greenhouse has been going for 2 years now and the zipper won’t go all the way up unless I force it so I just duck under. We also have a cat who showed up that realized he can squish under the doorway so he spends a lot of time in there. The larger greenhouse has been up for one season and the zipper pull already broke. I tied string to it and it works but once it’s moved we will need to seriously think about making that door. Neither greenhouse has a screen for the doorways so I hung netting up during the summer to try and keep bugs out, it didn’t totally work and it made it a pain to get in and out. I love that in the big greenhouse I tie string to the metal supports and line the middle with my cantaloupe bags to let them go up. On the outside we put 15 grow bags on each side. Put stakes in them, and tied all the stakes together to tie up the summer squash. We also took twine and went from bags on one side to the bags on the other over the greenhouse. That helped to keep the stakes up and tight and might have also helped to keep the greenhouse from blowing around to much. They do not have benches but that is something we want to do. This past fall I bought lots of mums, holly bushes, currants, azaleas, rhododendrons, red twigs and boxwoods. There wasn’t time to get them planted and established before winter, so I put them in the greenhouse. I also moved two grapes, all the black berries and raspberries that we dug out from between the pear trees, and all the everbearing strawberries we had planted in the spring. I’ve been out there 3 times this winter to water when it got warmer and so far so good. I even tried moving some more tender plants in to see if they might come back. Up by the house I’ve got our herbs in the smaller greenhouse and it looks like things are doing well. Plus I filled the Aldi greenhouses with bags of strawberries because I ran out of room and so far they all look good too. These are not grand or pretty and they might not stand the test of time but I love them. They keep chickens, dogs and birds out as well as helping to keep some insect problems away. We did have a bad white fly problem this last year but I think that came from a plant I bought at the store, it lived with the seedlings, and then the seedlings went out to the greenhouse. The new toppers will help not only with getting things out quicker and stay out later in the year but also with stopping chickens from digging in the boxes, or dogs, or cats using them as bathrooms or just to lay in. We can swap out the plastic for mesh or shade cloth or row cover which is very exciting.
This year I added all of our seed packets to the inventory system ToteScan The theory is that we should have been able to look up what seeds we have so we don’t just keep buying them. Bill’s will to buy seeds exceeds the apps ability to curb his enthusiasm.
For years we have wanted to have a diagram of our flower beds and gardens. This year we tried several and finally decided to use Growveg’s Garden Planning app. It does not have everything we want. At first it didn’t seem like it was going to be the right choice but over the weekend we sat down and worked on it together.
Bill spent a lot of time measuring and drawing to get the layout of the land and this is not a complete picture but it’s a great start. He then laid out where all the beds were, again not complete but a great start.
We have had an issue with starting way to many seeds and then struggling to find places to plant them. This has caused issues with seedlings staying in pots for too long and beds being too crowded. In the process of drawing this out we were able to not just look at what beds we had but we were able to plan what beds we needed. Now that we know the layout we know what to plant, how many beds we need to get ready, and how many of each plant to start. We were also able to look at the watering zones. Learning that the fertilization needs of things differs is huge. We could setup things with like needs all in a zone and now Bill can setup his fertilizing schedule for that zone. It was overwhelming but I’m so glad we finally just did it.
Because we have been able to grow a little more food than ever before I needed a way to save it. I started canning tomatoes, making sauces, diced and pastes.
We did end up buying a dehydrator and I love this thing. I’m still learning about all it can do. Peppers, mushrooms, celery, carrots, garlic, ginger are some of my favorites. We grind the ginger and garlic into powder. I’ve also dried fresh herbs like oregano and basil from the garden. I’m not 100% sure about fruit yet. I did cranberries, raspberries and oranges and now I’m not sure what to do with them. I’ve heard you can grind them into powders and add that to things. I also used to make jerky in the oven and want to try it in the dehydrator. Potatoes and sweet potatoes are another one I’m excited to try if our harvest is good this year. For years I have frozen things like our berries, green beans, and tomato sauces but this year I expanded that and tried freezing pumpkin and squash. This may also be the year I break down and buy a pressure canner. I will admit they worry me but if we get enough from the gardens to make it worth buying and learning then it will be a happy problem to have.
This year might also prove to be the year where we take the castle down, remove two evergreens from the front area and start planting our fruit trees. Even though we only got 2 pears from 3 trees in 15 years those 2 pears fed the dream. We are thinking 3 apple trees up front and the rest of the orchard down by the new garden. It’s taken decades to get to this point. If you had told me we would get here I would never have believed you. Don’t give up on your dreams. Don’t let the length of time it takes or how many times it didn’t turn out like planned discourage you. It’s okay to step back when you need to. It’s okay to go small and spend only what you can afford. We will never grow the amount of food that some can but we can grow a tomato and that makes me happy. Be happy with whatever you can do.
