Our Garden

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Our  Zone 4 SQF Garden
We started about 5 yrs ago, and we agreed we would not expand our garden until we felt we utilized all of our space well and could have actually used more.  2011 we decided that we finally are ready to expand our garden by doubling it!  We started digging up our lawn the previous fall (our neighbors probably think we are crazy), and finished in the spring.  It was a good thing we started in the fall because we had a late wet cold spring.  Not the best time to undergo a major landscaping project!    Click Here to read part 1 of our garden expansion.

Our First Garden 2010

This is our first garden which was intially lawn when we bought our house.  Our garden plan inspired by square foot gardening worked out pretty good the only thing that didn't work so well was  the tiny aisles.  I found myself tiptoeing around overgrown plants growing over the aisles.  I'm surprised I didn't trip over our plants and destroy half our garden!  We expanded our paths in 2011 and I love it!  We went from two bricks (about a foot) to 4 bricks on the vertical path (about 2-21/2 feet wide), and 5 on the horizontal.  I can actually sit down now!

Our Garden 2010
 
Our Garden July 2011
Our Garden July 2012
July W3 2013: this year we moved the trellises to have better symmetry


Front Yard: 
 Our total square footage of our garden is about 120 ft.  We are also expanding existing beds to include perennial and self seeding herbs.
July 2011

Tomatoes July 2011
strawberries, turnips, broccoli, and cucumbers behind July 2011


Our raspberry patch first week of June 2011

















Strawberries, Peppers, and tomatoes July 2011

swiss chard, lettuce, tomatoes, July 2011
Backyard (most of it is shade):  
We have an existing raspberry patch (in the rare sunny spot), a rhubarb plant, and onions.  We tore up about 20-30 more sq ft of our lawn up to create a new bed in our backyard.  It's the only place that gets any sun except for our side bed (pictured below) and our driveway.  We took advantage of the sun in our driveway and created a concrete block raised bed and we made a build as you grow potato bin, and a wooden planter (I plan to make another soon). 
Our Side Garden Bed: Rhubarb and Onions June 2011
July W1 2013: Our concrete raised bed on our driveway with mustard, arugula, and cherry tomatoes
Our Cedar Wood Planter We Made on our drive way July 2013 W1: Thai Basil, Jalapeno, and habanero
Our New Garden Bed: Pumpkin, Brussels sprout, Zucchini, Early Squash, and Spaghetti Squash June 2012



How We Created Our Garden
Brick Mow Row
  
We started by tearing out a part of our front lawn and created two gardens of 4 (5feet by 3 feet)squares based on the square foot gardening method.  So total square footage of our garden is about 120 ft.  We used bricks instead of raised beds made out of wood (my neighbor said his rotted out eventually), we thought it would look better and be lower maintenance.  we used the bricks to create a mow row, for lower maintenance.   It's cool we can just mow right over the bricks and we never have to weed wack it.  We put rabbit fencing around each square and weave the  pvc pipe we use for our trellis or wooden dowels through the fencing for each square.  Click Here to read part 1 of our garden expansion  
Click here for my tutorial on how to make a PVC trellis.

Click Here to read all our gardening articles
Click Here to see our garden updates









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