We have been working hard to get our farm around and in working order.
We relocated late growing season in 2021, which made it difficult to get Back to Eden garden – style beds in place before winter set in.
The first fall we spent at the farm, I was able to have a small raised garden bed with a fall garden and the following spring also used it for colder weather crops.
They are a mixture of metal and wood boxes I was able to find relatively inexpensive off Facebook Marketplace. I would definitely recommend the metal beds, as they were easy to assemble and seem like they will last a good while. They come in a variety of shapes, colors and depths.
The wooden beds are unfortunately made of softwood and I don’t foresee them withstanding the test of time.
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Another Move
Part of the long blogging hiatus has been due to ANOTHER move.
Don’t fret!
We have not left our farm. We purchased a home and property next door. This summer was spent tending our garden, preparing for our move, and loving on our boys. Since welcoming in the new year, I thought it was past time to give a gardening update.
We moved in October 2022 and the previous owners had established raised beds, Yellow Delicious apple trees, and LOTS of established asparagus! With the new home came and additional 5 acres, a pond, and another large barn.
The Kitchen Garden
The raised beds described above were used mainly as our kitchen garden for the 2022 growing season.
I kept a rotation of lettuce, spinach, radish, orach, katsuma, and culinary spices growing in this area.
The immediate backyard was fenced in for our children to play freely. Along the fence I grew various berries, peas, and green beans for them to freely snack on.
In that designated area, I had alot of our culinary herbs in an herb spiral and am attempting to keep our mint varieties contained in the old field tile.
(Mints spread via rizomes, seeds, and cuttings – so once you plant them, they’re pretty much guaranteed to take over!)
The Main Garden
Our main garden here was done on the outskirts of the pond (and located out of the fence). This was also no-till, and done Back to Eden style. The main difference in this garden than my original BTE garden in our first home, I utilized a broadfork to gently loosen the soil without turning it. This increases aeration and allows for passages for water, air, and nutrients to flow down to the plant’s root system better.
Per BTE principles, we layered heavy goat manure and composted wood chips and began planting. I chose to do more of an intensive planting in market gardening rows.
(Find out more about Market Gardening here)
I was beyond pleased with our results from this year! Generally a first year garden struggles in many ways. Ours flourished. This was the first year I was able to get a good zucchini harvest in several growing seasons! We did encounter many squash borers, squash beetles, and cucumber beetles until well after we had harvested enough to enjoy, give, and preserve.
The Pumpkin Patch
With our new location, we have great access to a busy road. I had this big dream of growing oodles of pumpkins, piling them up by the road, and selling enough to fund next year’s growing season. I had several packets of pumpkins, gourds, and winter squash on hand.
What could make a pumpkin patch even better? Corn and beans!
That’s right – I had it all planned out. In my head, of course.
By this time we had decided bringing cattle to the farm was not an option for the 2022 year. So why not utilize a portion of our fields for a massive Three Sister’s Garden? (A method of growing taught to settlers from the Native People of North America. The plants work symbiotically to support each other. Squash provides ground cover to keep weeds down, beans provide nitrogen to the soil and grow up the corn stalks, corn are heavy nitrogen feeders and provide support for the beans).
My biggest obstacle was lack of compost and manure for such a large garden.
I was already sold on my pumpkin patch dream, and the temptation of the tractor and pull behind tiller was too strong. With much coaxing, I convinced my husband to till up a quarter acre of field for my fall dreams.
Let me just get to the point – it was a nightmare. I didn’t pull a single pumpkin, gourd, or bean out of that entire patch. All of the sweet corn was severely stunted despite all the supplements I brought in. The area completely flooded for weeks on end during the summer washing away most of my seeds.
Since we disturbed the seed bank, weeds grew wild and quickly overtook any progress I made trying to haul in mulch to protect my plants.
The only success we had in that area was from our Indian Glass Corn. The stalks grew incredibly tall with ears of corn longer than my entire forearm! This was by far Stirling and Declan’s favorite part! We saved many seeds to plant next year, and have plenty to grind and make homemade cornbread! (I use my MockMill grain mill for this! I have heard of success using a Nutrimill Harvest as well.)
Future Plans
I would definitely like to expand our garden for next year. Since moving, I relocated all of the berry bushes from the fence line into half of the Main Garden area. Incorporating more perennials and fruit trees will hopefully happen this year, as well as focusing on main staples to preserve for the winter months.
We were very blessed to pick bushels of apples, glean blueberries from a local farm, a friend brought us fresh peaches from Tennessee, and another let us harvest the most delicious pears I’ve ever had! Some were canned, some were frozen, and many were turned into fruit leathers or apple chips with our dehydrator!
I look forward to finding my footing with writing again and sharing what I have learned over the years with food growing and preservation!
How was your gardening year for 2022?
What are your plans for this upcoming season?
“Anyone who thinks gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year. For gardening begins in January with the dream.”
– Josephine Nuese