Our Very Own Garden

When we moved into our little rental in May, everything was in order and perfect for us. The yard was very well taken care of and very well established which has been absolutely wonderful. The only thing that wasn't taken care of was the little garden on the side of the house. It had black plastic over it to somewhat prevent weeds from growing but you could tell that no one had used it in years.

It is now one of my favorite parts of the yard. It took some work and effort but it was well worth it!

Before- the nice thing was that the strawberry bed was already there and established. We had to take take up all the black plastic up and remove a lot of weeds.

The little pathways between the rows were dirt and also had some plastic down. So we kept the plastic and filled it in with small rocks. We also fixed the bricks that were lining the paths and straightened them. We added a brick border along the back and filled in between the border and the fence with more rocks to prevent weeds from growing there and to give it a nice edge. Baylor loved playing in the dirt while we worked in the garden. She loved finding bugs and building homes for roly poly bugs.

We brought in more dirt to help with the dirt that was already there and to fill them in so that they were all about the same height. We bought some plant starts and began the planting process. 

Paige made these super cute markers for our plants. I love them so much!

After- We added a fence along the front with a gate so that little animals don't come and eat our garden. Everything is growing in nice and we have enjoyed taking care of it and eating from our very own garden.

I planted yellow marigolds along the top of each arch which is at the end of each rock pathway. The first section when you walk in the garden is mostly flowers. The original plan was for peas and broccoli. I had peas growing but when we were gone to Idaho the grape vine grew a ton and overtook and shadowed the peas so they ended up dying. I was never able to find broccoli starts so it became a flower bed and I love it.

The grape vine was already there and grows along the fence. I had to cut back quite a bit on the garden side so that my flowers and plants still got sun.

The first section does have carrots growing and then the next section is the strawberry section. We enjoyed lots of strawberries and I even made some strawberry freezer jam from it. Once it was done I cut back a lot of the dead stuff and it looks much better now. At the end of the garden, in the last bed, I planted some raspberry starts that we got from the neighbor and from Dale and Margaret. Some of them are still doing good but some have died. I don't know if they get enough sun being along the fence but we will see next year how they do.

Then there is a pepper bed- green bell peppers and jalapeno peppers.

And last we have our tomato bed that is filled with roma tomato plants. We just picked our first bowl full and there are plenty more that will ripen. I even made some salsa today from our own tomatoes, bell pepper, and jalapeno pepper. I love being able to use things you grow yourself!

The strawberries I picked that turned into jam and I also got a box of peaches that I canned, froze, and of course enjoyed some fresh.