Forget the Super Bowl, I spent my Sunday afternoon watching the occasional commercial and mapping out my plans for my garden this summer.
I’m so excited this year because this is truly my first FULL year that I’ve been able to really GARDEN! I’ve always wanted a big garden, but our previous house just didn’t have the space, only a 2 x 4 raised box. When we moved three years ago, we specifically looked for a home with a big yard (even compromising on the house itself a bit, for the sake of a big yard). Then the first summer in our new house I was nine months pregnant and chasing a 3 year old. The second summer busy nursing an infant and sprinting after a 4 year old! So last year was the first year we started to get serious – we built our raised beds, we built a chicken coop and fell in love with chickens and had a pretty successful first round of gardening! It has brought so much joy to our family – and provided such a bounty of healthy food, that I cannot wait to get this year’s garden going.
Last summer I didn’t get my raised beds built until April and the dirt didn’t come until May! So I missed the opportunity to plant much from seed. I bought a lot of my plants from the Olympia Farmer’s Market as starts – which costs way more than starting from seed (but still cheaper than buying organic produce in the grocery store!).
This year I’m excited to start my seeds early. I ordered them last night and they should be here in about a week. I need to clear out an area in my garage and I plan to start the seeds over the next few weeks (depending on their growing times).
I drew out a garden plan just with a pencil and a piece of paper. I think there are fancy programs, but that seemed like too much work. Here are my plans (remember I’m a beginner, so take it with a grain of salt).
This is the main area, where we have the raised beds. We need to build one more raised bed to complete this map. I tried to plant things next to “companion” plants or plants that grow well together. Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening (Amazon) is a great resource for companion planting, or you can pretty much Google “Companion plant XYZ” to find numerous charts and tips online for what likes each other – and more importantly, what doesn’t!
The pumpkin patch is right next to our raised beds. It is basically a big pile of dirt that used to be a raised bed for flowers, but we removed the decorative border and pulled up all the flowers to make room for food. I have picked out way too many pumpkin varieties for the space we have, but my pumpkins did so well last year (nearly 50 pounds!) that I am excited to go for it again this year. This is my first year that I’m going to build some bean teepees.
This is the left side of my yard – facing it from the house. I have a few small beds along the fence that are great for plants that like shade. And I have a big decorative raised bed area in the middle that I think will be a great herb garden. I planted some rosemary in there last year and it did really great! I also hope to have some containers on the deck
My husband and I love having an “Urban Farm” of sorts and he’s already talking about getting a goat (I say no way) and I’d love to eventually get bees (he says no way). We are considering adding a greenhouse to the yard this year, but we aren’t sure about the budget or the space required, so we’re working on researching that. We also want to get a few new chickens for the flock and that’s in process.
I plan to bring you along for the ride – because I’m learning as I go and I heard from so many of you last year who started gardening because you were inspired by my posts and stories. We can do this!
Here are a few of my favorite garden books (available on Amazon or probably your local library):
- Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening
- Backyard Bounty: The Complete Guide to Year-Round Organic Gardening in the Pacific Northwest
- Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, 6th Edition: The Complete Guide to Organic Gardening
What about you? What are your garden plans this summer? Are you going to plant anything new?
Nicole Flory says
We are in the process of building our raised garden beds (3 of 5 done so far). 4 are 5′ x 4′ and one is 8′ x 2′. I am not sure what exactly we will plant but I know beans, tomatoes, zucchini & carrots will be on the list! I can’t wait to get started!
Rachel says
My husband and I bought our first home this year and so I am thrilled to plant a garden. Previously I’ve just done containers. I can’t wait to get my spot all cleared (currently there are lots of weeds and rocks) and plan it all out. I want to try so many new things this year. 🙂
Megan says
Your plan looks great! Just wanted to warn you that you might end up with more zucchini than you know what to do with! My hubby planted 44 tomato plants last year. We did TONS of canning!!!! He started them from seed. I was proud of how well he got them to grow. You’ve inspired me to add a veggie we don’t usually eat like okra, kale, or eggplant.
Heather says
This will be my first year trying eggplant. I have no idea if it will be successful. I fully expect a ton of zucchini and I’m hoping to teach myself to can this summer. It’s on my bucket list.
Angela says
Must say, I’m a little jealous. Our backyard is covered in agragate 🙁 Someday I’m going to take a jack hammer to it and plant my own little secret garden! Thanks for being an inspiration!
Julie2 says
I’m so excited for you. I’m equal parts excited and scared for my garden. I have it planned out. What helped me lots was the free veg.garden class at The Barn Nursery yesterday. Lots of advice for Olympia home gardens. All the best to you..LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!
Heather says
Julie2 – Great tip on the Barn Nursery – that place is sooo cool. I should make a trip out there. Keep me posted on your garden, please?
maria vaughn says
Just wanted to know where you usually order your seeds from. Does it matter where you buy it? Just curious. Thanks.
liz says
Hello, My 3 year old and I did our garden plans for this year as well. I blogged about it on my site : http://funcraftysavymom.blogspot.com/2013/01/gardening-project-for-2013.html
Such a fun and great way to save along with teaching him some responsibility and skills. This will be the first year we really are planting more then the usual tomato plant and actually attempting to be more seasoned hoping for a larder yield. Wishing you best of luck in your garden and hope you check out ours as well!
Heather says
All the way from Western New York!?! Very cool. Keep me posted on how things are growing for you!
sue says
keep in mind that those chickens of yours are going to get in those garden beds and scratch up dirt and eat all your seeds before they even grow!! I put 3 ft tall chicken wire around mine with a entry in one corner that justs swings back closed
Heather says
Sue – We’ve had pretty good luck keeping the chickens out of the garden area. We usually let them out when we are in the backyard (which is a lot) and we shoo them away.
Emma Benefiel says
Thank you so much for this post, last year was my first attempt to growing anything and i started with Strawberries, did ok. I want to build a couple of raised garden beds this year, feeling a little over whelemed as i have no idea where to start, so thank you for your post.
Heather says
Emma – Great job starting with strawberries! I would say start with containers and maybe one raised bed and ease into it, especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed. Keep me posted!
Kendra says
I bought some seeds when I was at home depot on Saturday (I couldn’t resist the pretty pictures). I still have some left over from last year that I’m going to try and use again too. The only seeds I’ve started are some luffa gourd, I tried growing them last year but the plant kept dying at about 4″ tall so I’m going to try starting them, and keeping them inside longer this year.
I’m thinking of turning one area of our yard into a pumpkin patch. It has a ton of pine needles that get dropped on it so I don’t want to do something manicured there.
Heather says
I’d love to find out how your luffa gourd is doing once you get it growing. I loved growing pumpkins – it was so low maintenance, I would definitely recommend it!
I would love to get a lemon tree – I think they are very cool. Let me know how yours shows up!