Back when we lived in town, my dear husband Dan and I decided to try our hand at gardening. So he built a couple of 4-foot square raised garden beds in our side yard. In that space, I produced tomatoes, peas, green beans, peppers, zucchini, broccoli, cucumber, and carrots. A regular cornucopia.
It was a cute little garden, and I was proud of what we were able to harvest from a relatively small space. It took me a year or two to get my head around what worked and what didn’t. But we became the masters of that little corner of the planet. My then-preschool son loved to zoom over to the garden on his John Deere tractor and help me fill his little trailer with produce. It was idyllic, really.
So, when we moved out to the country, Dan and I talked briefly about expanding our garden. In the abstract. Then, because Dan doesn’t mess around, he went and built me a fence around a ginormous chunk of land in our new farm field. Seriously, folks, it is huge.
Now, I figure, if it took me only a few years to tackle 30-some square feet of space, I should be able to get the new garden running nicely in….say, 2000 years.
Help!!
Just kidding. Sort of. (Really, truly, I am not kidding at all. Please send help!)
The truth is I don’t have a clue what I’m doing. But I am still excited about planting the new garden, and I think we can make it work. Because I didn’t have a clue about lots of things once upon a time that I am an expert in now. Heck, I couldn’t even walk when I was born, right? And I’ve got that down pretty well. (Although I do stub my toes. A lot. My husband would tell you it’s because I forget I actually have toes. Hmmm, maybe this wasn’t the best example after all. We’ll try that again.) Soooo….once upon a time I didn’t know how to shop online. And you, me and our UPS driver, Henry, all know how that story ends.
There are far more eyes on this garden than there were on our little raised beds on Sunset Lane. I can feel the pressure of people watching and wondering what in the heck those crazy fools are going to do with this giant enclosed space in the middle of the field. It’s kind of intimidating. Or really intimidating. Oh well. I just have to remind myself that unless they want to come help, I don’t have time to worry about it.
We have already planted a variety of beans, peas, carrots, asparagus, blueberries, melons, squash and pumpkins inside the new garden. We also planted lots and lots of corn. My awesome friend Peggy brought over a carload of tomato and pepper plants that we put in the ground. Plus probably some other stuff that I have forgotten about. And some of it is even growing!
In preparation for this growing season, I created a detailed color-coded grid that mapped out where each plant would live. I had done all sorts of well-intentioned research over the winter on how and where everything would grow best. But March and June are two totally different months, and things happen much differently in real life than they do in your head. So you fit things where they fit, and you chalk it up as a learning experience.
Enter Ryan and her beautiful plant markers, which helped save the day. Because when you can’t remember to write “shaving gel” down on your shopping list by the time you exit the shower, you recognize that your chances of remembering where you planted the carrots are next to zero. That’s when you enlist your sweet and talented daughter to create handmade signs out of oversized popsicle sticks.
Everything else aside, I am beyond thankful that I have the opportunity to grow food to feed my family and friends. I am looking forward to the salsa and corn and peas we will put away for winter. Not to mention the Bloody Mary mix. Who knows how much we will end up with! Maybe we will help stock a food pantry or put the kids to work running a mini farm stand. The possibilities seem endless. As do the weeds.
So I am wide open to advice, and I’ll be sure to share what I learn in the process, too! (And please, please come over to help me!)