My little Garden Project

I’ve been a bit busy lately on my latest project. I’ve had at least a small garden most years. It’s not always terribly successful, but we get some veggies from it, and it gives me something to do that feels good for me and our family. I pull my girls out there too even though it’s generally my own project.

The last couple years have been challenging because we intend to buy our own place, but haven’t quite yet. When that happens, we will be moving, and if I have planted my little garden here it will likely be lost to us. We have however, found the place we plan on purchasing now. Due to current events everything is being postponed, again.

Starting from bare (but flourishing) land

The little property is beautiful though. There’s currently nothing on it. It’s wild as can be, which Is actually my favorite part. It has a couple places to plant a little garden, or maybe someday a big one.

We happen to know the person we’ll be buying it from, and have similar values, so he’s been kind enough to let us do a few things while also postponing the actual purchase. I’m not terribly naive so I won’t be doing anything that risks losing too much of an investment, but I did decide to start my little garden there this summer.

So, that’s how this little project got started.

Making it work as I go

I intended to buy a raised bed, but each one I found was either more than I was willing to spend, or I didn’t have a way to move it, and delivery wasn’t an option. As my garden has grown I’ve come up with temporary solutions. It’s really coming along now, and I think it’ll be interesting to see how it progresses.

Hauling water

My little garden this year is as primitive as it gets. The property I’m planting on doesn’t even have a well or a spring that anyone has done work to. I’ve been carrying water for it for about a month now. The timing of it started with the first heat wave of the year. In Vermont honestly we don’t have many official heat waves, and this one was particularly early. It also went straight from the water being high after last falls flood, winter, and then spring rains to low water from a short drought!

The little brook I had been getting water from dried up enough that I couldn’t collect water from it anymore!

My first big adventure on the property tuned out to be making the spring more accessible. I literally dug it out with a little trowel. I write more on that adventure later!

For now I’m going to focus on my garden.

Where to plant?

I chose the spot on a day with cloud cover so I wasn’t able to use the actual sun to determine how much sun there was. There are areas with complete shade, and complete sun on this little parcel of land, and I wanted sun and a bit of convenience, without being in the way. I successfully chose a sunny spot with a bit of protection from the elements. Ultimately I have a different spot picked out, but right now that one is less convenient.

I used the native plant growth to help choose the exact spot. Yes, with practice you can look at a wild property like this one and get a good idea of what different biomes you might have. This was actually a fun little exercise, and is why I was able to decide that day that I wasn’t going for the spot I plan to put it more permanently later. For then though, I had the only plants I had acquired at that point badly in need of repotting, and a whiskey barrel planter. I still didn’t want to be moving a whisky barrel full of soil all over the property.

If you think all is good brace yourself

This year has been a strange one for gardens for me though. First, I had a pretty successful start with seeds. This stage has always been a challenge for me. We have a severe lack of space in the home we rent. I end up moving them outdoors during the day, and on our freezer at night. On cold days they don’t go outside. Instead my three girls, husband, and I move them every time they need to access the freezer. In the past this has been a hassle but worked out fine. This year my seedlings got dumped not once, but twice!

I figured that was pretty much the end of the garden this year but for Mother’s day I bought myself a six pack of broccoli and the basics I’d need for a tiny veggie garden, or a large planter. (That’s my family’s favorite vegetable they can agree on) Yes at this point I thought it would be pretty darn tiny.

But be ready when things change course again

It’s still not huge but has grown by four times as much as I’d started out! I now have Broccoli, three varietals of tomato, Two varietals of hot pepper for my daughter, a tomatillo, cabbage, beets, and onion. I don’t even know which kind of onion! I’ve never successfully grown them either. We will see how this goes…

Acquiring them was interesting. I thought I was done planting after that. Then a couple weeks later I saw a post on Face Book locally advertising free plants. I couldn’t pass that up, and went right into town to see what was available.

There was a pretty wide selection. I picked out cabbage, tomatillo, beets, and onions. Again, I thought that was it for the year. I didn’t want to be greedy, but I did find an assortment for some variety.

The tomatillo was big enough that after a couple days I repotted it at home, without waiting to bring it to the property.

And it grew again!

Before those were properly planted I went into the city with my husband. On the way home he stopped at the garden center. He tends to be less frugal than me, and pulls me in. We bought several more plants while we were there due to the veggies being half price. This is where I got the hot peppers.

They are for Middle girl, as was the tomatillo. She loves food from the southwest/ Mexico, and is forever chasing spice.

Well soon she should have some ghost peppers and one other varietal I cannot recall. 

Of course, I picked up zucchini, and summer squash. I also got several herbs. The herbs have stayed on our porch and I basically have an herb garden here at home.

Scrappy little garden, but doing well so far

Planting them was interesting. I hadn’t been going to the property everyday only when my little planter needed water. I’d set it up with a wine bottle for irrigation to save a couple trips. I also only had one more whiskey barrel planter. I kept looking for a raised bed for another week, but for here It’s really late to be starting a garden. These plants needed to get in the dirt!

Obviously I started with the tomatoes in the planter. I planted a few onions in with them and the broccoli. After that I was at a loss for several days. I’ve spotted a few logs that would work really nicely for a raised bed, but this is an independent project, and I can’t move them by myself with no tools. So those won’t work for this particular moment.

For now the squash was looking kind of sad and needed something so I looked around and used a bag from the soil I’d bought. It’s not ideal, but it gives them the soil they need above the ground. I definitely prefer raised beds to a garden bed that sinks in the ground every year. Not to mention that the area I’d chosen for this year is all rock.

Now we wait and see- and haul a lot of water!

I have it all planted though, and I don’t foresee myself adding any more to it this year. I may build a raised bed around it at this point. Even if it’s not my veggie garden I do like this spot for a little raised bed of something. Maybe an herb garden.

I will have to put some thing is place to protect it from hungry critters. So far adding the onion the way I did should tend to dissuade most of them. Another trick I use is scattering broken pottery over the soil. So far I have tomato cages too, But I’d like to add at least a string perimeter to deter deer. I figure It’s worth a try. Now that we’ve had a good soaking rain I might get a chance to do more than haul water while I’m there. I filled two gallons at the little stream today, and will fill two more tomorrow. It’s not an easy job, but there is something satisfying in getting all of my resources, or as many as possible from the property I’m growing on!

Maybe I’ll get to develop the spring to be a bit more convenient, and continue working on the trail to where I intend to plant next year!