My dream of a garden ...
Even at my old house, I had wanted to have a vegetable and flower garden, but we had over 100 trees around the perimeter of the yard…so not enough sun, and too many roots for a garden.
It was April of 2019, we moved to this 9 acre property just over 5 months ago.
As I looked out over the field that was to be my garden, grapevines twisted across the ground making a tangled obstacle course.
Thistles were 5 feet tall. Thickets of wild raspberries were hiding under tall grass.
Worst of all, there were hundreds and hundreds of sapling trees…which we later found out were an invasive strand called Buckthorn. Yes they had huge thorns 1 ½ long!
How in the world could I make a garden from a feral field?
On the other side of the field was a glorious site, a field full of Queens Annes Lace.
At sunset it was stunning.
Which gardening method?
During the winter months, doing my research, I learned that there were several ways to start a garden from scratch.
You could kill everything with herbicide.
You could turn the soil with a tractor.
Or you could use a fairly new method called no till gardening.
Starting a new garden with herbicide drenched ground didn’t seem the way.
We didn’t have a tiller for our tractor, so I thought I would give “no till” gardening a go.”
How big is too big?
Every article, vlog, or blog that I watched or read, said don’t start your garden to big!
You will get discouraged and overwhelmed.
It takes a lot to get me discouraged and overwhelmed, lol!
I love a big project, the bigger the better.
Something I could really sink my teeth into.
My motto is “how hard can it be?”
So…I measured the garden space, 130 feet by 100 feet. This would give me plenty of room to grow pretty much what ever I wanted to.
(This picture is an old one from before we turned the storage shed into a chicken coop.)
The field behind is where my garden would be going.
The Sketch
Anytime I’m planning a new space, from laying out a new kitchen, planning a vintage/flea market, to rearranging displays in my previous antiques & gift shop, I always draw it out on graph paper (to scale) before I start.
This has helped me so much over the years to see a space from the top down.
The garden in my dreams had a pumpkin and raspberry patch, small apple orchard, a garden shed, and a large raised bed area for flowers and vegetables.
Eventhough that was down the road. Measuring the area and starting with the correct spacing, would ensure I had enough room for full grown fruit trees, an area to expand the original pumpkin patch and orchard etc.
This was my beginning sketch. The “starter” garden area was behind the chicken coop, just beyond a row of full grown pine trees.
The Tractor
When we bought the property from the previous owner, he had a stipulation that we must buy all the equipment he used to tend the property.
He was a wise man!
Knowing we would need a farm tractor w/ a 6 foot bush hog and a 6 foot finishing mower, two John Deere lawn tractors, a huge air compressor, a GMC Jimmy with a snow plow on the front and a golf cart.
He had a schedule of mowing the entire field a couple times a year, but since we had bought the property in the fall, it hadn’t been mown in almost a year.
My husband Ken is quite mechanical, and was able to figure out how to attach the implement to the back of the tractor.
The first time I saw him on that tractor our whole life change came to mind.
We had just moved from living in the same house for 40 years, from an average subdivision just like millions of other people.
The difference being, we were 64 years old, and we just bought a farm… not knowing one thing about how to do any of it.
Is that my husband…on a tractor?
Yes… yes it is.
The Woodchip Guy
Knowing we would need lots of woodchips as part of the “no till” gardening process, I made a sign to put in the front yard.
“Clean Wood Chips Wanted” with our phone number.
I had also called a local tree trimming company and told them if they were in our neighborhood, would they bring a few loads of chips to us.
He was reluctant, saying people call everyday and they don’t have time…blah, blah, blah.
Well, a couple days later, they were in our neighborhood!
I could see and hear the trucks and saws. When I looked through the trees, the trucks where on the next street over! I jumped in my car and drove over there to ask the foreman.
He was very nice and said YES!
Later that afternoon, here they came with a huge load of wood chips!
A few weeks later, I received a call from a small tree trimming service. Was I still interested in chips, he was in the neighborhood and could bring them right now! Yes!
So I had the beginning of my “no till” garden, now for the cardboard.
Cardboard Queen
Luckily, we had saved the huge boxes from the new appliances purchased for the kitchen, we had a good start on the next “ingredient”.
Putting the word out to friends and family that I needed large pieces of cardboard, had given me a lot to work with also.
Next putting it all together.
The Beginning
Before we could do anything, the area had to be knocked down with the bush hog, then mowed with the finishing mower, then mowed with the lawn tractor.
When Ken was finished mowing, there were sharp stumps, thick quack grass and prickly patches of undergrowth.
It seemed impossible to grow anything on top of this mess.
After an evening of re-watching YouTube videos about the “no till procedure” I was ready to start.
The basic premise:
- Start with short grass
- Lay down flat pieces of wet cardboard
- Layer cardboard thickly, so that all edges are covered well
(This is not my picture…but just to give you the idea.)
4. Rewet cardboard
5. Cover cardboard with 8-12 inches of wood chips
6. Place raised beds on top of woodchips
7. Leave large rows between beds (for wheelbarrows etc.)
8. Fill beds with large branches, straw, leaves, grass clippings etc.
9. Top this with a mixture of compost, vermiculite, garden soil and peat moss.
Just getting water to the garden area was a challenge.
I would fill up 6- five gallon buckets of water from the spigot at the back of the house.
Load it all on the golf cart and drive back to the cardboard area…ugh.
Even the tiniest bit of wind would pick up the edges of the cardboard and blow it everwhere!
It was so frustrating.
But I kept plodding along, determined to get that cardboard laid down!
The cardboard step was followed by many, many huge wheelbarrows of wood chips.
Shoveling them from the pile, left by the wood chip guys, into the wheelbarrow and push it over to the garden.
Then dumping the woodchips on the cardboard, carefully spreading it, while trying not to move the cardboard out of place.
I’m pretty tough, but this was a huge job!
Definitely a two person job, but Ken was still traveling 3-4 days a week for work.
So if I wanted something done right away, I had to figure it out by myself…which I did, lol!
Laying in the beds
Looking for a cheap way to make the raised beds, I took a trip to Home Depot.
They had single pickets for fencing, that were 6 feet long and 6 inches wide. They are used for a fence like this…but sold individually. The price was great! $2.88 a piece
(Not my picture…but you get the idea.)
If we turned them sideways and stacked two boards high, the height would be perfect.
Then we could cut a couple of them in half for the ends. Making the beds 3 feet wide by 6 feet long.
Learning not to make the mistake of building them too wide to reach across, I could still put them end to end. Making a 3 foot wide by 18 foot long row.
This is a close up of our first raised bed boxes!
Taking advise from experienced gardeners, I filled the boxes with wood chips, branches, grass clippings, old leaves etc. Then topped it off with compost and garden soil.
That first year I grew pumpkins, a few tomato plants and sunflowers.
The pumpkins were not a good choice…even though they were fun to grow.
They grew up and over the sides of the raised beds spreading out nearly twenty feet.
I would definitely need a separate area to grow pumpkins!
Playing House...
Through blood, sweat and tears…my garden continues to grow each year.
It has become like another room in my house.
Switching around the furniture to make room for the Christmas tree, is the same as making room for potatoes or more tomatoes.
Changing the pillows on the couch… or changing the flowers in the pots.
Gardening is like playing house when you were a kid.
No rules, no limits, just your imagination.
and finally... The Garden Shed
Hauling all my tools, rakes, wheelbarrow, etc., back and forth from the barn and back again, got old…real fast.
I needed a garden shed.
The ones I had pinned on my Pinterest board, looked like they were out of a magazine.
If I could talk Ken into buying a shed…I could fix it up and make it really cute!
Maybe I’ll just look on Facebook Market Place for kicks…
Next time our first party in the barn and my beloved, garden shed.
Truly, one of my favorite things on the farm.
Fondly,
Sandy
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What I had thought you were about was not far off the mark. Industrious, resilient, motivated, colorful, dynamic. If there is a list of words that go with a stranger who does such things, this would be a great start. Keep going and keep growing. It is so much more than soil, sweat, produce. It is a charming way to be in the world-doing life. Hooray.l