Blackberries, Strawberries and Blueberries. Oh my

Just a quick post about our berry production on our little homestead.

The first year we planted strawberries and a thornless blackberry. The second year we added more strawberries, blackberries , and then blueberries. Third year we added more blackberries and blueberries.

We are adding more as we can afford to and also when we can get an area cleared for them.

The strawberries were a mix of Alpine, Ozark, and probably some others we are forgetting. We tried a white strawberry too, called Pineberry.

They are planted in a old building foundation with a concrete wall that has fallen down. It was a defined area that we always try planting things in. Strawberries are about the only thing that we have found to work there. We say work but even though we are currently getting lots of strawberries, we are not getting lots of flavor. They have all been so bland this year! Our theories on this are that we have had record level of rains this year effecting the taste or they do not get enough sunlight. Or both. There are a few trees surrounding them we are considering cutting down.

Any suggestions from you guys are welcome in the comments!

The blackberries are a thorn less variety we like, named Apache . The property is covered in “wild” blackberry plants, but they do not produce as much due to their thickness and the wild animals get most of them before they are what we consider ripe.

We are planting them on the edge of our young orchard and keep adding as we take back the woods. They will have plenty of room to expand in the future. The plants do well for us despite a few bites taken out by deer and rabbits from time to time. Last year we even got enough to make a cobbler. I would be fine if we got enough this year to make 20 cobblers. We might be planting more, or we might give it a few years to see how far they expand on their own.

Blueberries we have planted several varieties so far, mainly because where we buy them from seems to change what they have every year. They are all doing a great job despite the light deer grazing, we have not gotten a significant amount off them yet, but maybe this year!

We also have some grapes we have started that we will go over in a future post. Thinking about maybe doing raspberries. We are in zone 7b so researching what we could realistically grow here.

What berries are you growing? What are some of your favorites? Are we forgetting any that we should get started? Let us know in the comments !!!

2019 Spring garden

Finally got time to get the 2019 Spring garden in the ground. So much work but such a fun work. Putting stuff in the ground, giving each plant a little “grow babies” whisper and daydreaming about how delicious the rewards will be in a few months.

The entire weekend was spent on tilling, laying out the rows, and planting. We realized we needed to do something for weed suppression this year. In previous years we just weeded, constantly. This year we are trying a woven plastic garden cloth. It should keep the weeds way down while still allowing water through but not getting too hot. Once those 3 and 4 foot widths were secured, we could start adding in the plants. Most of the rows were plants that we had already started in our greenhouse, with a few being seeds that didn’t need a head start. By the end of the weekend we had planted three 25ft by 50ft gardens and a smaller herb bed area.

The favorite part of the day for me I think was the last tilling that morning. It was right at daylight, and going slow over the rows so the tiller could do its job. It was an excited anticipation like when I was a kid before a birthday or before a favorite dinner. This giddy feeling with each pass of the tractor picturing what would be growing in each row. Then I thought about my grandfather, and how when I was a kid I would watch him till up rows in his garden on an old red tractor. I wonder if he was as excited in those moments as I was now.

Then my mind drifted to the previous owners of the property. We found a “produce for sale” sign when cleaning up some of the trash. That probably means they had a little stand at one point. So we know they farmed some, not sure exactly where or how. Maybe the exact same rows I was moving down someone else had done just that 50 years before me. What about 100 years before me? I had the luxury of doing it on a small tractor, but at one point though, it could have been someone behind a plow and a team of mules. Not growing as a fun hobby but for a legit reason of food. I miss a row or don’t plow an area as deep as would be needed and we get a little less vegetables. The man and his mules make the same mistake and his family could go hungry. It meant so much more to him. Where my morning was full of excitement his likely had a healthy does of fear and worry as well. It is another quick reminder of how blessed our lives are in so many aspects. Gardening as a hobby has to be much more fun than gardening to prevent starvation.

Back to the plants!

We already had rabbits strike. In three days they had already eaten an entire row of Broccoli/cauliflower, Cabbage, and at least three rows worth of lettuce. They even bit off a pepper plant and left it just laying on the ground. We are working on plans on how to deal with them. Anything from rabbit repellent spray to companion plants that rabbits don’t like to much stronger methods. The garden is between the house and the road which strikes out some options. We’d love your comments if you’ve got any suggestions on what has worked for you in the past.

Plants we are most excited about – tomatoes, obviously. What they sell in most stores as tomatoes should be illegal compared to how a REAL tomato tastes . Along with that, we have yellow squash and acorn squash are high on our list as favorites. Melons didn’t work out for us last year so fingers crossed for this year. Corn also, especially the Glass Gem corn but also the Peaches and Cream. Oh, and potatoes. And 3 different colors of carrots.

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Maybe we are just excited about everything?

The smell of dirt, the sun coming up catching the dew on the surrounding plant life. Birds waking up and starting their songs for the day, sometimes flying down to check out what the tractor had overturned. Just spending time outside planting things. There are far much worse ways to spend a weekend, and not many better ways. As always we urge everyone to plant things. It is so rewarding.

Inside the New Greenhouse!

In the last post, we went through the building of the Greenhouse, really focusing on the outside. After that was done it, was time to get started on the inside. As most projects, the outside went a tad over budget, so a large goal for the inside was to not spend any money on the setup.

The first thing we wanted was something more than a dirt floor. We knew of a brick yard that had a policy of putting bricks in the dumpster. They had no problem with people taking the bricks for free, but you had to dumpster dive for them essentially.

We were lucky that every time we went there was pretty much only bricks in the dumpster and no actual trash. It was dirty work but we ended up with around 600 bricks for just a little sweat and gas in the truck.

Putting the brick down during the rain storms. Rain came in from under the walls. Problem has been fixed now.

After the brick path was laid down we started to put tables up on the sides. These were built out of scrap wood we had from the original construction. The tops were old fence boards and scrap pieces of plywood. Turned out great!

Under the tables are just dirt. We might do something different with eventually but for this first year it won’t hurt anything.

At the back, we built a little table out of the scraps and we did buy a sink insert from a re-use store for pretty cheap. There wont be water hook up but can use the sink to wash some mud off vegetables so we don’t gunk up the sink in the kitchen as much.

Above the sink we hung a back of an old refrigerator with peg hooks to hang some tools ( of course we always put the tools back where they go……..) We had some light blue spray paint so painted the coils to give it a little color.

The table had to stop on the one side due to the door swinging open. Behind it we put more brick on the floor. A taller tool rack for things we need usually right outside or around the greenhouse. Then a little cabinet we actually got for $2.00 at a little sale.

We found some glass cabinet doors at the re-use store for cheap and decided to put in some grow out boxes on the side of the greenhouse.

We love our little greenhouse and are in it every single day doing something. We do need to work on some insulation and heat retention before this winter but for now it’s all about getting plants going so they can get in the ground.

The start of our plants

Some photos from the middle. Some stuff had been up potted, some new stuff planted. Even 10 or so trees from the Arbor day foundation.

Below is where they are now! Hopefully can get put in the actual garden within the next week. We could already cut a few salads from the lettuce.

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Starting our small greenhouse

Having years one and two gardens past us , we started to dream bigger. We wanted a place to start seeds earlier and a little bit more substantial than our hot box we used our second year.

We also wanted a potting shed, and a place to start some young trees, and nut bushes that could use a safe environment for the first couple years. With all of these things in mind, we decided to build a small greenhouse. There is a future plan on building a larger greenhouse/sunroom on the future house. We needed something a bit sooner though.

We spent some time figuring out where would get good light but not block anything in the future. It made good sense to put the greenhouse by the gardens, too. With our site in mind, we got going!.

First thing we did was set the posts. It is not the first thing we should have done. The ground seemed level to the eye. However we quickly realized it was no where close. It took some time and lots of shovel work to get it level for the walls and floor. It would have been much easier without the posts already in the way.

Chief inspector Bandit the dog was there every step of the way making sure everything passed inspection. We will be posting more about this awesome pup in a future post.

Once the posts and brick were laid, the frame went up pretty quick.

The only thing on this part we should have done differently was to slope the roof more. It drops six inches but would have been better to do it ten or twelve. We have not had any issues yet, and we don’t usually have any snow accumulation here so will have to wait and see. We have had one of the rainiest starts of the year on record, and it has not leaked a drop yet. Fingers crossed, it continues to hold.

For the lower section we used metal just like we did on the barn. The reasons being it helps prevent rot from rain splash back, also it matches the barn kinda.

Below you can see between each rafter we have venting. So 4 holes on each side to help the green house cool down when needed. On a sunny day even if its only in the 60s the greenhouse can hit 120 pretty quickly.

Vents out from the top. Vents laying on the ground.

After the outside was up, all the rain that came showed us we needed to work on the drainage around our little building.

We dug a simple ditch around the side that was causing the issue. From a previous post we mentioned there was a little decorative pond on the place when we bought it. Around that were loads of pea gravel and large rocks for a wall. We filled the ditch with buckets of the gravel, then laid the stone on top. Fixed the issue so far, and looks great to us!

We are so happy with our first little greenhouse. It is already being put to good use. So many seeds started and even ten small trees. The pictures below do not even show all of them.

In a future post we will go through what we did on the inside and show you guys what it looks like . Got any questions? We would love to hear from you all in the comments!

Second year garden

If you havent checked our first year garden post, check that out here –> First Year Garden

The second year garden was bigger ambitions than the first. The first year we kinda learned some things we wanted to grow and we wanted more. We had two 25ft x 50ft main gardens. Then we also had 3-4 spots that were 5ft x 5ft we kinda threw extra things in we didn’t know where else to put.

Looks great in the pictures, right? Very few times was it weeded that well throughout the year. We enjoy weeding the garden and it does help , but it is more for the “look” of it more than anything. We feel better if the garden is prettier. Does not mean it makes the seeds grow any better.

We did start some seeds for 2018 year garden. Even built a little hot box thing for them. This was before the little greenhouse we just finished this year. We started several types of tomatoes and peppers. Also some cantaloupe, watermelon, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli.

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Tomatoes

The tomatoes did ok , we ended up planting 9 that we had started but also bought 5 additional from the plant booths around here. Ours were way smaller than the ones we bought, but within the month they had grown past what the bought ones were doing. Obviously the store bought ones work, but to us it seems they are stunted at the size you buy them at and it takes a while for them to get going. We had a type of yellow plum tomato that was a free gift. It was delicious but 2 plants produced more than all of our families could eat. At the height of the season we were getting over a 5 gallon bucket of tomatoes a day total. We ate our fill, froze so many gallon bags full for winter soups, and gave away just as many to family and friends.

Peppers

All but one of our pepper plants died. Ended up buying several so we still had an amazing pepper crop but it was a little disappointing our plants didn’t take off. The one that survived was a jalapeno plant that did fantastic. The one plant produced enough jalapeno for us, we just didn’t have any to share. We mostly ate the peppers raw, we did grill a few. One thing that we liked to do is cut up some banana peppers into rings and pickle in apple cider vinegar because they are great on hotdogs. Some of the hotter peppers we just put in a jar of vinegar to soak. This is a favorite to add into soups or beans or anything that needs a little kick. Pulled pork is very good like this.

The rest of the seeds we started died. All of them. For different reasons , but mainly due to poor soil quality and poor area selection. The watermelons behind the barn never developed. The cantaloupes did , but half way through something ate a hole in every single one. The broccoli and cauliflower was plated a little late probably, but in horrible soil and even re-planted and re-planted again after that. Ended up with zero Cauliflower and maybe 8 very small broccoli heads.

Potatoes came up and looked fantastic , above ground. Once it came time to dig them up we were getting maybe two potatoes for every three plants. And the ones we did get were hard as rocks. They tasted good, just took twice as long to cook. The purple ones were fun though.

Planted 200 onion bulbs. Ended up with ZERO. We planted them behind the barn as well and think something dug them up. 200 of them . All gone. Hope that was a good meal for something.

Beets- The year before we had planted a few beets and had lots of success, but that was in the good soil raised beds. In the new garden areas none of them grew. Planted several rows of a couple different varieties but again ended up with none.

Lettuce and Carrots all had to be replanted and were hit and miss. We did get some but not half of what we should have.

Peaches and Cream and all white Nirvana

Corn did better than the year before, but still not great. It was delicious though and hopefully this year we can end up with three times as much.

The worst failure was spinach. Planted so much spinach in different areas, different times, different ways. Zero spinach

The failures are part of the adventure and we try our best to take them with stride. This year we have the greenhouse and are going to try to get the plants going more in there and plant actual plants instead of just seed this year for everything. Hopefully we can improve the area of the plants while we continue to work on the entire gardens soil quality.

Amazing to think that the thing that matters most is the soil, getting that right and everything else really takes care of itself.

The garden was not all failures there were several successes.

Tomatoes and peppers as mentioned did great . Cucumbers, squash, and zucchini did good. Beans and peas did pretty good. Okra did great. Acorn squash did very well. Loved the acorn squash , planting twice as much this year. When fall came we did manage to get a few heads of cabbage, and enough turnips to feed an army. We eat the greens and then the “meat” of the turnip.

This year garden hopefully outdoes last year. Improving on what we did well , and fixing what we did wrong. We have already started the seeds in our greenhouse. Learning that we need more insulation in our greenhouse….. but the seeds are growing and we are anxious to get the garden beds ready. Will be posting more about that in upcoming blogs.

What’s in a name?

We want to start by saying thank you to everyone who has read anything on our blog so far! Blogging is a new world for us and it is so rewarding and exciting to get the views/ comments/ likes from everyone. We’re enjoying sharing what we have learned so far and hope that we can inspire or motivate someone to do something too. Plant just one thing – you don’t have to wait until you have acres or until you can retire. Plant one tomato or one sunflower; it doesn’t matter. Just do something! It will be so rewarding.

A few years back life did a big reset. After the dust settled on that it was clear a plan had to be made. The idea and the want of homesteading and a more simple life style was in the background but it started coming forward. This idea is expounded on in our first blog post if you want to check that out.

Having always kept various journals and date books it seemed only natural to do the same with the homesteading idea. A green journal that had been a gift was picked to be the one to start the daydreaming.

Pages and pages of drawings and writings . Things from TV Shows, original ideas , hopes and dreams were all written down in the simple green journal. Bank accounts, types of loans, dates with a realtor and appointment times. Anything that had to do with finding a place and what to do with that place was written down in the journal. It became a treasure in itself and a constant companion.

There was a 6 month period of doing nothing but working towards a goal. No weekends off, no vacation, no thought other than getting a place started. Pennies pinched, clutter sold off , constantly thinking of how to get closer to the goal. One singular obsession and the journal becoming a manifestation of that obsession.

After buying the property it just felt like it needed a name. There were not even any other names considered really. It was obviously Green Journal Homestead.

It is a fun memory , a fitting name, and a reminder that anything is possible even when it seems like it is not.

That first Green Journal was filled up a few years ago but recently another journal gift had been given to celebrate the start of this blog.

The journal might be new but it is like finding an old friend. The pages are already filling up just like the last one. Ideas flowing on paper just like before. We are very excited for the new adventures to come. We hope that all of you come along with us!

Reclaiming a barn part two

From the first post about the barn you can see that it was a job in itself just clearing around the barn to even begin to work on it.

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Once we got it cleared where we could get into it, the first thing we did was get out all the old tires. There were over 250 used car tires in the barn. We don’t know why, we don’t know where they came from, but they were our problem now. The second project was to get the tin off the sides. Half of it went to the scrap yard and the other half has gone to different projects. The frame of the barn was actually pretty good. Just an old pole barn that has probably been there forever. You can tell the cedar logs were cut by hand, probably from the land itself or somewhere close by. There was an addition put on at some point that is probably only 10 years old or so.

Old barn as a whole — The barn of many colors

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With the tin off the sides we started on the roof. There were no leaks in the old tin roof, and the structure was sound, so we just put a new roof on top of the old. Green, of course.

For the sides and inside walls, we went through several layout ideas as well as several options on what materials to actually use. We didn’t like the look of tin even though it would be the longest lasting. We also never liked the look of the sheets of siding that look like boards, even though that would have probably been the cheaper option. We also weren’t sure how long that would last, since it was the lower cost option. We decided to go with a board and batten style with 6 inch boards for the 1st layer. Putting the boards on this year and after they have some time to season the plan is to go back and put the batten on later. Probably doing 4 inch or so boards for that.

Left side. This whole wall had to be rebuilt

We are leaving the addition part without walls, Just a half wall in the back. It will be used as a place to park equipment or anything we need to work on with a roof over us. If our needs change we can always close it in at a later date.

The metal wrapping around the bottom is for rain splash back. It helps the wood walls to not stay soaked from the ground and rain and hopefully last much longer. We also like the way it looks. The outside is fully done and the inside walls are done. Had to move a few poles on the inside to put exactly where we wanted them. Mainly where we needed the doors to go. The only things left are to build the five doors, and then the trim work around all the corners and edges.

Inside . One full walled stall . One half wall stall

Other projects such as the green house needed finished so it has been a little while since we have worked on the barn. Hopefully we can get back at it this fall.

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We still have some cleaning up to do on this side……

Eventually on this side of the barn closest to the road we want to build a chicken/ rabbit run. A protected place to grow our meat chickens and rabbits.

Behind the barn will be the barn lots with pigs helping clear the brambles and helping fill the freezer after.

barn3 — View of the barn from the front porch.

It is very rewarding to see the barn every morning on our way out. So happy with how it turned out!

Even though the barn is not completely done, we already have inhabitants.

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The first non pet animals on the homestead -rabbits! We will be talking more about them in future posts.

Downed tree opportunity

In our part of the world it has been nothing but rain and storms for over a month. The nice days without rain could probably be counted on one hand. The storms over the weekend finally decided to knock down a tree over the driveway.

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It would be easy to be annoyed by something like this. Super easy to let it ruin your day. We have been there ourselves. Sunday was going to be one of the precious nice days that have been so few and far between. The idea of starting seeds in our new greenhouse dancing in our heads the night before like visions of sugar-plum fairies. To wake up to something like this would be beyond easy to be angry about it and let it ruin an entire day .

If we take a second and look at it though, it was actually a blessing, in more than one way. There were obvious benefits. One being we had been planning on cutting down this tree anyway when we built the house. Nature just sped it up a bit. Secondly it forced us to sharpen axes, chainsaw, clippers. Things that had been on the to do list for a while but never got around to it. With spring fast approaching no better time to get this done. So already good things happening because of this tree and we have not even gotten into the actual wood itself. Every part of it had its uses.

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The tree was budding so the tips and blossoms can go to the rabbits. They love them as treats and peel the tender bark from the stick like beavers.

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The straight limbs will be terrific terraces for the garden. Can you imagine snow peas , cucumbers, acorn squash and more covering these things? We can even cut into lengths for stakes to mark future garden rows. Things we would have gone into the woods to get soon anyway, easily were provided in our driveway.

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The trunk and larger branches provided these thick logs which we plan on using to grow mushrooms. Granted the type of wood is not the greatest for this, but we had wanted more mushroom logs and they were provided. Again in the middle of the driveway.

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The medium pieces were piled and will fuel a few weenie roasts this summer. Or maybe some lake side fires while fishing. Could even use the wood in the fire used to melt the beeswax we will use on the mushroom logs.

All the scraps and sawdust went into future garden beds and compost piles. As they break down, they will feed the soil and create pockets. Which is extra good in our clay soil.

Even if we had no use for the wood from the tree (hard to imagine anyone would feel like this though) it took a little over an hour to cut up process. We still had plenty of time to start our seeds and a few other projects done. How easy it would have been to let this one hour job ruin our whole day? How many times have we let something this simple, spoil something? We did not let it ruin our day this time and hopefully we will remember not to let little inconveniences like this spoil our day in the future. If we approached things with a positive attitude, often little inconveniences are actually blessings.

Orchards and Patience

The saying is true ” The best time to plant an apple tree is five years ago. The second best time is now.” Growing up with several fruit trees , we knew we wanted to have several on our homestead.

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The thoughts on layout of the homestead is something that has changed several times. It will also probably change several times in the next few years even, but where to put the fruit trees was pretty obvious. The hillside going up from the road to the top of the property does not look like much of a slope, but pushing a wheelbarrow up it full of compost ( why did we put the compost pile at the BOTTOM of the hill?? ) and you can certainly feel it. The sun rises from the “bottom” of the hill and travels up it during the day creating a micro climate perfect for young trees.

We laid out where the trees would go keeping them minimum 25 ft apart. Staking out where the first tree would go then folding a 50ft rope around it to measure out to 25 ft. Then with two stakes with two 50ft ropes in half can put the next stake where the two ropes meet. This allowed us to put stakes in while always remaining 25 ft away from any other tree.

Year one we planted apple, pear, peach, plum trees. Two of each going up the hill. Planted them in October and it did not rain that year again until December that year. The next two months were spent carrying what seemed like infinite 5 gallon buckets of water to the young trees. The following Spring showed that all the hard work had paid off and all the trees made it. We also planted thornless blackberry bushes the first year, we will cover that more in a future post.

20190218_112330 — They are hard to see, but the trees are there.

List of planted trees

Apple— Granny Smith 5. Peach— Belle of Georgia
Apple— Honey Crisp 6. Peach— Belle of Georgia
Plum— Methley Plum 7. Pear— Kieffer
Plum— Ozark Premier 8. Pear— Orient

Year two orchard wise was not as big an expansion as year one. We had run out of open area to plant the trees and a large portion of the “orchard time” was spent clearing new ground for a few more trees. October year two we planted only one more apple tree, (we did plant more berry bushes though) an Arkansas Black. It is a later in the year apple which we like the taste of, kind of like wine. We are hoping it will store and cook well .

Apple — Arkansas Black

Year three for the orchard we did a little better planting three trees. Two apple and one more plum tree. One of the apples was to replace the granny smith tree planted from the first year.

Apple— Granny Smith (to replace the one that died)
Apple— Gala
Plum—Damson

20190218_112352 — Can see a few of them in this photo .

The original granny smith apple tree had been doing great, we thought, which might have been the problem . It produced in year 3 about a dozen little apples. Then the weather shifted and summer hit hard and we probably should have picked off the young fruit. The combination, we believe, stressed the tree too much and it died. A better course of action would have been to remove the apples so the tree could have focused more on root growth. So far we have only lost that one out of eleven , but even that one could have probably been avoided. It was a good wake up call on keeping a better watch on the young orchard. We were too excited by the idea and possibility of having apples so soon and it probably cost us that tree. Patience is really needed here. There is no rushing a tree growing.

The plans for the orchard going forward is to monitor but not baby the growing trees, and at their young age, if any show problems to replace it. At this point in time there is not really anymore room to squeeze in more trees. This could change after the house is built and we know where water lines and septic will be located. We are discussing adding some figs and pawpaw trees maybe, but we have to see where we have that they could thrive.

As we clean out the woods more and define what will remain woods and what will be pasture we do want to line that with nut trees. There are no nut trees on the property at this point and that is something we want to correct. We are also looking to add some trees that will change their leaf color and drop leaves in the fall. We get the benefit of the leaves changing and then the benefit of new material to add to the compost. We got a couple of small oak trees around Earth Day last year and hopefully they will take off.

First year garden

It was August when the property was bought, followed by a large drought in the area all the way till the next year. No garden that first half year so the following spring we were super excited to get it going.

For the first year we started several seeds to hopefully make it into small plants to hopefully plant in the garden. We started several types of tomatoes, peppers, and some cantaloupes. Out of those only the Cantaloupes produced anything for us (and boy did they).

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We ended up having to buy tomato plants and pepper plants, but there were several for sale around here. Since we bought ours kinda “late” we actually got a great deal on them as most plant places were getting ready to change into firework places as is their usual rotation every year.

The garden itself was designed to be part raised bed part hugelkultur bed. Knowing the ground was clay dirt it just seemed easier to build something to hold “good” dirt. If you have read the other posts on the site you know that in our section of woods there was an impressive pile of trash. Part of that mountain of garbage was fencing that had been pushed down with a bulldozer. It was a painstaking and slow process but we were able to get enough old cedar fence posts to build the bed.

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(sneak peek of the barn in the background with the walls off and new roof)

The layout went ok, just carrying up fence posts, stacking them with wood stakes cut from the woods and driven into the ground. Cutting a few to fit when need be. Then the middles filled with sticks/brush/rotten wood gathered from fence rows and previous cleanings of the property .

As for the dirt, my mother and step-father have a spring feed creek that runs down the edge of their property. This mini creek was great but would flood their yard every year during rainy months. While it was dry he would dig it out deeper to prevent the flooding, which meant he had dirt. It was great soil with silt-like qualities from the wet weather creek bed. Several truckloads of that and we had our garden filled.

The first year garden had several successes and several failures also .

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Failures include– All the seedlings we started died , aside from cantaloupes. The cantaloupes took off – we probably had about 50 or more. The problem is they all were ripe at the same time. We ate as many as we could, gave away just as many. Even with all the giving away after a 2 day rain storm the remaining cantaloupe just rotted on the vine. We grew enough okra for a small army, and much of it went to waste. That area in our raised bed could have been better used growing something else. Lettuce was planted late and didn’t grow. Corn was planted a little late, and not deep enough or in a good location. Storms knocked it down so many times we lost count and it stopped trying to stand back up. Planted the fall garden way too early the first time (on what ended up being the hottest day of the entire year) and wasted several packets of seeds. We had enough to replant some when it was the right time and did manage a few turnips, beets, lettuce and carrots.

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Cucumbers came in numbers we were unprepared for and seemed rushed to make them into pickles. We probably made 60 jars in one day which seemed like lot for first time trying pickling and canning, too.

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We tried to grow potatoes in tires (remember, we have 250 of the things). Red potatoes didn’t produce, but sweet potatoes did alright .

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All in all, the garden produced more than we could have asked for. The tomatoes were delicious and made amazing sandwiches that summer and delicious soups that winter. The pickles were so much work that one day, but delicious all year long. Thinking about the fried squash makes my mouth water even now. Going to cans and freezer for veggies instead of grocery store shelves every time felt like a win.

Most importantly, we were reminded how wonderful it is to have a garden. The amazing feeling of waking up, walking outside and picking some spinach , onion, peppers to go with breakfast. Getting home from work and for dinner having whatever was perfectly ripe that day. The smell of the freshly turned dirt, the pride and excitement when sprouts started poking up. The satisfaction of looking at freshly weeded rows.

If there is only one thing that anyone ever takes away from this blog I hope it is to plant something. There is a peacefulness and joy we have felt ourselves and have seen in others that came from gardening; we’d have to suggest it. It really is something special.

It was a great first year and we will always love our little raised beds. That being said it turned out to not be enough space for our ambitious goals . In an upcoming post we will discuss the 2nd year garden which was two areas each 25ft by 50ft.