History of Our Gardens

In light of our rainy, cold, Texas spring, this post is very fitting. We planted our first garden at our new home this past weekend. But before I show you pictures from that little adventure. I think you need to see where it all started.

My parents have always gardened (or at least every other year), my grandmother gardened annually, and my neighbors gardened, my sister and brother-in-law have gardened, many of our close friends garden presently. I have seen different ways of  handling produce, different garden sizes, different landscapes and climates. Two things are certain, every gardener and garden is different!

When you go to start your own garden the process can seem a bit overwhelming. Even after being surrounded by seasoned gardeners my whole life, I was still unsure of what to do, where to start, and the maintenance required. 

Sure, there is science, timing, and just all around miracles involved, but I think that the most important thing in backyard gardening is to be patient and have FUN!

We have had 3 different garden plots in 4 years. The process of building the beds, planting, and caring for the gardens have been some great times together. After the first 2 years of moving our raised beds to two different locations, we realized that the soil takes time to really get rich and moving it stops that process. We are excited this year to be planting in a place where we know our garden will remain.

This year, we also modeled our garden after this style; Back to Eden Gardening. I would recommend buying the video. We shall see how we do! So, now, here are pictures from the history of our gardens! We have gotten some produce in the years past but not enough to not have to supplement. We are hoping that we will really see some great produce this year and in the years to come as the soil gets richer.

Here are pictures from our gardens!

Year 1, 2010. Bed was a little too deep and it drained really quick so it dried up halfway through the hot summer.

 

2nd, garden, 2011. We both were very proud of this garden. The beds were perfect and we had some crop this year, but we ended up moving in December of 2012. I am sure the soil is nice and rich now.

Start of garden 2014!

Our Great Dane, Zeus, loves the new garden!

My dad came in for the weekend and helped us!

One of my favorite things about putting in a garden is the time we have spent doing it with great friends and family. Each year we have had help one way or another building, planting, and fencing. This year, we even got some veggies from already existing gardens belonging to our neighbors!

Sure, these pictures look like we just whipped up a 400 square foot garden in a weekend, but this garden took the whole month of March to put in! We started with the soil, then we built the box, then added more soil, the plants and fencing. Lessoned learned, ENJOY THE PROCESS! My next post will be some of our favorite gardening tools and resources to help you enjoy the process more.