Our 2016 Suburban Garden

This weekend, we finally got the garden all planted. It’s a big job every year to get it ready, but it always feels good to cross it off the list in the spring.

When we first started working, they were pretty sad.

So, we added a lot of composted dirt to the beds this year, courtesy of the cattle at my dad’s farm. Then, we mixed in some potting mix near the top to help everything get going in nice loose soil.

We also added another bin for more asparagus.

As usual, we switched things around so different plants are planted in each bed. I’m sure that doesn’t really matter as much since we added dirt, but it’s still a good practice.

Also, I’m trying some broccoli and cauliflower this year. And okra from seed. I put them in the barrels at the end because these are the shadiest spots and I figure they would do best in that area.

I only planted one row of green beans (because we always end up with too many and I hate picking them anyway) but I did add a few more rows of lettuce. And some acorn squash for the first time.

And yes, we ended up planting some zucchini against my better judgement. We don’t plant to fight the stupid squash borers I’m sure are already preying on our poor plants, but maybe we’ll get a few before the plants all die. (You can read about our battles for zucchini in previous years, here.)

I figure that since it was only $1.78 for a 4 pack of plants, even if I only get 2 zucchini, it’s still a better deal than the grocery store, right?

Wyatt says I always over plant, and he’s probably right. But, I have a hard time wasting plants when it’s cheaper to buy a little 4 pack than a single plant…so, I have them sort of jammed in there. Of course, there is also the chance that some of these won’t do well, like last year. And then it’s good to be overplanted.

I also put a couple more tomatoes in a pot on our deck. I will probably add some other potted herbs up there, too.

Oh, and we’ll have a post about a strawberry planter we have been working on. Fingers crossed that goes well and we’ll have lots more berries than last year.

And speaking of berries, something happened and the blueberries don’t look like they made it through the winter very well,which I’m so about. But, I’m so excited that our raspberries seem to be doing something this year. Always before, the old canes (which are supposed to be the fruiting ones) never sprouted back. But this year, they did! I’m hopeful that means we’ll have our first fruit.

Sadly, I think this may be the last year of use we get out of our DIY raised beds from our old repurposed interior doors. But, we did get three years out of them, so that’s pretty good for free.

A week or so after we planted, we got a little mulch put down to control the weeds in the beds.

It was pretty weedy, so we rough up the soil first to discourage those

And, we had to leave room for the seeds to come through.

And we even have some sprouts! Just look at those little baby beans!

I think the only thing left to do out there is add the cages around the tomatoes and such. All in all, I’m excited for what the summer will bring. Here’s hoping we are able to spend a little more time out there than last year.