I’ve been making some pretty good progress with my backyard garden over the past few weeks and thought I would share a few pictures of it’s current state.
Last year we started off the growing season with {16} 4×8 garden beds. We are now down to 10. This seems much more manageable to me. We’ve got a busy summer planned and the last thing I want the garden to feel like this year is a chore. I love gardening but I don’t want to overextend myself with it like I did last year. Maybe you think I’m crazy, but 10 garden beds seems doable.
The lasagna garden I started last fall is now about 10 inches high with compost and soil. I still haven’t figured out what I’m going to plant there yet but I feel like there is enough depth in there for whatever I choose to plant.
Check out the greenhouse! Lucy the puggle dog and I like to wander out there daily to check on the lettuce we have growing in a couple of old stock tanks. 
It shouldn’t be too long before we can harvest some lettuce greens.
My next project: building up the garden space that sits alongside the greenhouse.
I plan to remove the soil from last years pea patch {and cover it with the surrounding bark} and move it up the hill to the garden plot alongside the greenhouse. Then, I’ll need to pull up the {dead} kale border along side the chicken run and spruce up the area in front of the coop.
I plan on using the soil from last years pumpkin/potato patch to do that.
Once I’m done shoveling dirt, I hope to plant this area with periwinkle to match the hillside on the opposite side of the garden. It will take a few years to fully cover the area, but in the end I think it will look pretty grand.
Once those projects are finished… I plan to tidy up the raspberry patch.
Then… I’ll be ready to plant some seeds and get the 2014 garden season started.
Sheesh. I’m tired just thinking about it now!
~Mavis
Marcia Ward says
how do you keep the moles of your garden? do you have a problem with deer?
Mavis Butterfield says
We don’t have a problem with moles {knock on wood} and we have a 6 foot high fence to keep the deer out.
Cecily says
If it gets enough sun your lasagna garden would be a perfect spot for all those squash and pumpkins seeds you got. The vines could spread out there without being in the way.
Ock Du Spock says
Getting started in the garden is always the hardest part isn’t it!
Renay says
I would caution you on planting periwinkle (vinca minor). While this isn’t as invasive as ivy, it will eventually take over and is difficult to remove. Like ivy, it is a happy home for rats. YUCK! I would encourage you to consider a native ground cover such as Cotoneaster or Mahonia aquifolium, or Kinnickinnick. These are native, provide berries for birds, disease resistant, and drought tolerant.
Margaret Thele says
I would have to agree – a native groundcover would be more in keeping with the area.
Robin says
Bravo for reducing down to 10 beds. I am not expanding my garden this year. I’ve got to get ready for a boy to go to college and get a girl ready for high school. Time is flying by and this summer there will be a garden but also time to spend with kiddos. Just like the plants we raise they need tending too! Have fun prepping for planting season. Love all the pictures.
Mindy says
You always provide such inspiration! I admire the fact that you are reducing your beds to what seems manageable to you ( we have much less and at times it feels like a full time job – but a good one…). I would love to know more about what you do with your raspberries this time of year. Ours got out of control last year and I ended up trimming the tops down but need to do some transplanting and am not sure if I missed the boat (ie: should have done in the fall) or if I am ok to move in the spring.
Rita Kerr says
I agree with Renay that a native ground cover would be ideal. But, my family grew both vinca minor and ivy in Indiana for years, with no problem with mole or rats. Nor was it difficult to remove from areas we wanted to replant. Indiana has plenty of rain, just as you, so there was never any problem with it needing watered, once established. If your heart is set on lovely vinca minor, go with it. .