Our Garden History—How it all Began

We started our gardening adventures here in the summer of 2011.  It had been an incredibly rainy Spring, so we didn't get anything planted until the end of June and the first part of July.  But, we had incredible results for which I can thank my partnership with the Nature Spirits and a lot of horse manure!

Our soil here is red clay, which has a lot of nutrients in it, but is not easy to work with.  Using a lot of mulch in the form of old hay and straw has proved very helpful in keeping down the weeds and also helping to build up the soil.  We initially had about 4 yards of topsoil delivered and built some very simple beds and then lined the rows with hay.

 

We planted onions, potatoes, zucchini, Swiss Chard, corn, spinach, tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, asparagus, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and eight fruit trees—apple, peach, pear, and cherry.  By mid-August, in spite of our very late start, we had an incredible garden.

We also had an abundant harvest which was beyond my wildest expectations.

Last year, my daughter was expecting a baby and it seemed that we spent a good share of time getting ready for the delivery and enjoyed a harvest of another kind.  We did have some gardening successes though.  

We planted more perennials, a butterfly/bee garden, dahlias, an herb garden, rhubarb, and more apple trees.  We harvested more tomatoes than we could eat and lots of onion, garlic, asparagus, berries, and rhubarb. 

This winter, we started on a greenhouse and hope to get an early jump on planting this year, without having to buy any plants.  We'll see!  Our dream is to one day have a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture farm.