A Blog for Chronicling our Gardening Efforts

The first two summers in our new home did not bring good things in the way of gardening. Yes, we have a great space and great sunlight. Yes, we tilled and composted and pepped and soiled and watered. The only thing we were (sort of) successful with was the garlic. And those ended up being rather small.

This year, I hope, will be different. We are planning to employ the technique of "Gardening By The Square Foot." Each bed will be raised and sectioned off into one foot squares. I raised our garlic patch this fall. In the same space where I was able to plant 45 heads of garlic last season, this season I was able to plant 80. And since the bed is raised, I didn't have to deal with our difficult clay soil. I used a mixture of compost, peat moss, and vermiculite to fill the bed. The plan is to raise the herb garden the same way and to install 6 more 4' x 4' raised beds in our existing vegetable garden plot space.

In the mean time, I have all of the ingredients to get the majority of my garden plants started indoors before the outdoor growing season arrives. I am keeping my fingers crossed - last year my starts started out great, but didn't survive the transition into the ground.

I also have aspirations to start some berries: both strawberries and raspberries. And maybe even blackberries if I can get my hands on some starts.

Here are a few shots of our gardens from the past few seasons. The small garden at our old house was producing about 5 pounds of tomatoes a week! The most beautiful thing in our new garden is our daughter tip-toeing along the paths.