How Does Your Garden Grow?

Gardening fascinates me. It seems like every year I learn just a tiny bit more about how to have a successful garden, and every year I realize just how little I really do know. But I love it and I always come back for more.

This year, I found a really awesome gardening tool online called Smart Gardener. It’s a totally free garden planning tool.  {And I’m just telling you this because I think it’s awesome, not because I have any affiliation with Smart Gardener.} I think the biggest thing I learned about our garden was the size!  I knew we had a big garden, but I had no idea that it was almost 700 square feet!  It’s no wonder I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the weeds.

Another thing Smart Gardener taught me is that certain plants aren’t compatible and won’t grow very well if planted near each other.  Luckily, I haven’t ever planted incompatible plants next to each other, but Smart Gardener planned our garden layout so we won’t accidentally do that.
This is my garden plan this year:

We have five 4×8 garden boxes in front and the back one is 16×32.  Our little strawberry patch is on the far right and above it in the large box is our seriously struggling raspberry patch.  I’ve often wondered about abandoning the raspberries all together. I think I’ll give it a couple more years and see if I can figure them out.  The strawberries and raspberries are permanently there, but everything else changes from year to year.  We have a tricky gardening situation here. Southeast Idaho is in Zone 4 (with a final frost date of somewhere around the beginning of June. I’ve seen it listed on some websites as late as June 17th. And I have personally seen it snow several times in the beginning of June). In addition, we typically have strong winds come through our valley.  This year has been more mild than normal, but some years we’ve seen regular winds in excess of 40 mph.  That makes transplanting starts next to impossible!

This year has been a gardener’s dream.  The weather has been so beautiful and perfect. I normally don’t even consider planting until at least the last week of May, but earlier this week, we got a little bit of a head start. I always have the kids help with planting the corn and beans.

I really tried to follow the Smart Gardener plan. I even got the measuring tape out to make sure everything was going in exactly the right place.

Our dirt is like clay here. It’s not that it won’t grow plants, but it’s tricky figuring out how to water everything. And our garden is so big, there is no way I can afford to get the amount of compost the dirt needs. But, I did get some chicken manure and steer compost to mix in. Not nearly enough, but at least something.

I transplanted the artichokes, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Everything else I sowed as seeds in the ground.  Smart Gardener kind of laughed at me, in it’s own internet programming kind of way, saying that our growing season is too short to start the seeds directly outdoors.  I’ve had some years of luck and some not so much, so we’ll see how it goes.

One way help our fragile tomato starts is by building a little green house for them. These are so economical and simple to make.

We hammer in 4-foot pieces of rebar into the ground.

I put 8 in total. Four on each side of the garden box.

Then, hoop a 12-foot piece of PVC over the rebar. It reminds me of a covered wagon of sorts.

To keep the plants protected, we add painters plastic.  This year, I bought a roll that was 3.5 mm thick. If you get it too thin, the plastic will break down. Then we drape the plastic over the PVC hoops.

We use 2x4s and screws to secure the plastic down to the sides of the garden box. But, that is to keep it in place when we have torrential winds coming through. I know some people who just use rocks to hold the plastic down and that seems to work if you have less wind.

With this protection, the beautiful plants on the inside have an easier time growing. I usually leave the greenhouses up as long as I can. Sometimes I don’t even take the plastic off until the end of July. Then again, we are in Zone 4.

I’m excited to finally get our garden started! Gardening is one of my favorite things and I love all of the fresh veggies at the end of the summer. Here’s to hoping for a summer of mild temps and less wind (and hopefully a successful garden!).

Do you garden? Got any gardening tips or advice?

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