Our Backyard Garden Transformation

This is our fourth year of gardening, and it again found us making some kind of changes to our garden. The first year, Eric built an 8′ x 8′ raised bed plot. The second year, he added a second 8′ x 8′ plot right next to it, growing our garden to a 16′ x 8′ plot. The third year didn’t have any additions, though we did grow several things in pots.

And, then came this year. We decided we needed big changes, so, to start, Eric ripped out all of the old timbers that made up the garden (being careful not to rip out too much of our strawberry patch). He then worked on tilling it into four plots (as seen below).

Then, a few weekends later, he busily worked on four plots of raised bed gardens. These, however, were higher than our previous beds, at 12 inches tall. He built them four feet by eight feet. He worked so hard on them! I especially appreciated the care he gave to building one specifically around where our existing strawberries were.

Previously, we tended to the existing strawberries, plus we planted some cooler weather crops.

This weekend, we then put in extra work by planting the rest of our garden plants. For now, we have in peppers, tomatoes, squash (yellow straight neck and zucchini), lettuce (a couple of types), carrots, peas, and green beans. We had the kids help with some weeding and planting (and shopping for plants — all part of their schooling).

Eric also took some time to build some permanent and some temporary cages to keep the bunnies away from some of the plants. (Some just until they get bigger and some to keep them out for the summer, I hope!)

We’re so excited for our first season with our new garden plots! And, I’m so glad that the planting is basically done now!

Are you gardening this year? What are you growing in it? I would love more ideas of some fun things to plant that we haven’t tried before. (Although, we did plant a raspberry bush, and the bunnies ate all of the leaves off! We are hoping it will come back, but I’m not holding my breath.)

This post is linked to: Tackle It Tuesday and I Am Blissfully Domestic.

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