First for a little background information, beginning with the first garden out of college. Growing up we’d usually have a garden of some sort, sometimes a nice designated spot with different varieties of plants. Other times just a row with a couple plants. The peas really never made it to a bowl for dinner; we ate them as we picked them. Canning the extra with friends and grandparents was always fun too. So now it was my turn to plant and grow a garden of my own. I’d just bought a house which had a backyard full of gravel. It was a sad sight to say the least, but after a lot of rock removal and digging a sunny section of ground was ready for planting. I don’t remember what was all planted, but I’m pretty sure most of the plants were bought. I do remember the carrots did not come up at all and I decided they must not grow very well in my new yard. The plants did all right but I was not very consistent with watering. In the years since I have learned a couple things about gardening here:
- Carrots do grow here and very well, they just require much more water then I had given the first year 🙂
- Drip irrigation is my best garden friend. A few years ago we bought an automatic water timer and drip line to experiment with. They have become a permanent part of our garden ever since. The plants thrive with consistent watering and the weeds are minimal.
- Always expect the unexpected with mother nature. Example – last year we had several damaging hail storms and this year not even had a rain storm.
Which leads me to this year. We decided to plant only heirloom varieties and to start all our plants from seed. We were successful in that regard with all but 2 plants. The weather has been nothing but hot, which the peppers and tomatoes have handled very well. The potatos and cucumbers have not been as thrilled. We have added a raised bed since the first garden, which has our carrots and peppers. All other plants are still in the same section of yard we started with. This is our starting point. Next year we plan to branch out to other areas of the yard. We hope you’ll join us along the way.
