Last summer when we moved into our new house, there was one thing that I absolutely could not wait to do... start a garden! While we'd had the space at our old home as well, we'd actually been looking to move for the last few years and as such didn't want to start a garden we'd have to leave behind. So this year, I knew it was our year!
In the past when we'd attempted a garden, we discovered that the soil in our area isn't the greatest. As such, our previous attempts weren't the greatest. This time around, we decided to combat that by doing a raised garden bed. My husband and son created a very simple 8 foot x 8 foot bed.
To keep things simple, this bed does not have an attached bottom, but we did lay some old pallet wood down to help prevent weeds, etc from growing up through it. Next came the time to fill it up. I must admit, this took MUCH more than I anticipated--- 50 bags of soil were needed to fill it! This is really the downfall in this type of garden bed, as it did make the startup cost go up... but it gave us better control over the quality as well.
Next, we had to add our plants. I had some plants that I had started from seeds indoors, but many others we purchased at a local greenhouse as well. Though our garden bed is quite small, my research on the subject suggested that it was okay to plant things closer together in a raised garden bed like ours, but you do have to be mindful that it's getting plenty of water, etc. So far that has proven to be true... this little garden is packed full--- green beans, eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, butternut squash, sweet peppers, jalepeno peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, etc... While all seems to be going well, we are finding that we want to expand next year.
Over the last week or so, our garden has really taken off! It is such a delight to see our hard work paying off. With this time at home, there has never been a better time for it. I am finding that with all that has happened this year--- in the world and personally as well, it has been quite therapeutic for me. It's great for the kids too--- it's a great way to encourage them to be outside to help, but also helps them to better understand where food comes from as well.
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