I grew up in a garden.
Planting carrots with my mom and picking black raspberries every morning in the summer are memories dear to my childhood. And now, it’s my turn to begin my gardening journey! We decided to start a little vegetable patch in our backyard in a raised bed. Honestly, I am surprised and happily amazed at how well these little plants are growing! Since I took the photos above, these plants have probably tripled in size. We have an assortment varying from tomatoes to garlic to squash to jalapeños to broccoli to carrots to green beans. All in this little container! In retrospect we probably added too many things in. Jared is insisting we add another bed– which I might buy into. If you’re thinking about starting a vegetable garden, here are my beginner’s tips from what I’ve learned so far.
TIP 1: If you’re not handy, buy a raised bed kit online.
Jared build our raised bed because he’s a woodworker, but honestly, you can buy them cheaper and assemble them yourself. The quality might not be as good, but it keeps the project cost efficient.
TIP 2: Try to save money.
This project cost way more than I thought it would. After buying the lumber, the dirt (I think we got like 14 bags), and the plants, it put a little dent in our checkbook. Try to buy an actual load of dirt if you can versus the bags, and then opt for some cheaper plants maybe.
TIP 3: Don’t put too many plants.
Like I said, I think we crammed too many greens into this little box because right now it kind of looks like they’re all suffocating each other! Look on the packaging beforehand when you’re purchasing to see how many of each variety you can actually put side by side.
TIP 4: Keep it watered.
I feel like this goes without saying, but you have to water this stuff daily if it’s hot out. Luckily it’s been raining a lot, but I wasn’t about to let this bed because wasted money, so I tried to water it every morning if it hadn’t rained the day before or the night before.
TIP 5: Enjoy it.
Sometimes I just look at it from the window and never actually go out there and look to see what’s growing or popping up, but it’s way more enjoyable to head out and actually take the time to look it all over and enjoy the growing process.
I’ll probably try to post another update once the vegetables are actually ready to be picked! I hope that if you’ve been wanting to start one of these raised beds for a while that this inspires you! I had been wanting to do it since last year and I’m really happy we did. It’s fun and gives us an outdoor activity to do together. Hopefully you see as much growth as we’ve seen in ours and enjoy the process!
