Garden Summary 2020
Although our garden is still very much in full swing, I’m providing a 2020 summary now to organize and corral some garden information all in one place. Whether you have questions about our layout, zone, watering system, seeds, weeding, or pests, this post should be helpful! Let’s get started.
L A Y O U T | D E S I G N
We built our raised garden beds in April 2017 - even before we officially moved into the house. It started as two 4’x18’ beds and has expanded and improved each year since. The beds are built using cedar fence pickets and 4x4 posts. It’s not the most rigorous design and really not one I would highly recommend for long term use, but it was an affordable option that allowed us to get started.
Here’s what it looked like circa early May 2017:
We have since added the perimeter beds which are the same cedar fence pickets but 2’ wide. In total, the garden measures approximately 20’ x 27’. It is in close proximity to the house yet has full sun exposure from sun rise to sun set. It sits on the northwest side of our home.
W A T E R I N G
With all of the land directly surrounding the home being bare dirt at the end of our build, we decided it was an excellent time to map out a watering plan. After manually watering our small garden in the city for a few years, we knew that an irrigation system was going to be a top priority.
We use an automated timer at the spigot on the house as well as an automated timer at the garden. The one on the house tells the water when to turn on and off and the one at the garden regulates which beds get watered when and for how long.
We trenched a PVC pipe from the house out to the garden and ran a 1/2” distribution tube inside that supplies our water. The thought was that if we ever needed to replace the water line, we could just pull it in/out of the PVC without needing to dig up the yard. We’ve never actually had to touch it to-date so I don’t know if that theory works, but that’s what we did!
In terms of actually watering the garden, we’ve tested a number of options and our favorite has been using a soaker hose. It’s inexpensive, quick and easy to install each spring, and it holds up fairly well. We use one hose in the 2’ beds and two hoses in the 4’ beds. We split our watering up four ways - the west side of the 2’ bed gets watered first, then the west 4’ bed, followed by the east 4’ bed, and finally the east side of the 2’ bed. We water each for about 5 minutes in the early morning.
At the end of each season, all watering supplies (soaker hose, timers, etc.) are packed up and stored for winter. All outdoor spigots are turned off, but the line running in the ground remains as-is.
1 Output Hose Timer - We use this at the spigot on the house
4 Output Hose Timer - We use this at the garden
Distribution Tubing - This is what we used underground to get water from the house out to the garden.
S E E D S
One of my very favorite aspects of gardening is the experimentation of it all. I try not to take the garden too seriously, instead, opting to make it a giant test tube of “hmm… I wonder…”. I find a lot of joy and wonder in the garden, and I think others could really benefit from the same. It’s a wonderful place to learn and grow, both for little ones and adults.
When it comes to seeds, we’ve tried all kinds of things - never one’s to shy away from an experiment! Some of my favorite places to buy seeds include Row 7 Seeds, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Mad River Garlic Growers, and we also buy from local nurseries. These are the seeds/plants we grew in the 2020 growing season:
HERBS
Basil - Sweet, Thai, & Purple
Cilantro
Chives - this is a perennial, so if you plant it once, it grows back year after year.
Lavender
Mint - this is a perennial, so if you plant it once, it grows back year after year.
Parsley
Rosemary
Sage
Scallions
Thyme
VEGETABLES
Beans - Stringless Blue Lake
Beets
Detroit Red
Ruby Queen
Broccoli
Carrots
Rainbow Mix
Garlic - we bought garlic for the first time this year and will plant it late Sep/early Oct for harvesting in 2021.
Greens
Spinach - Baby Leaf, Bloomsdale
Lettuce - Grand Rapids, Romaine
Kale - Dwarf Blue Curled, Kalebration, Lacinato
Swiss Chard - Mixed Colors
Radishes
Squash
Centercut Squash - similar to the zucchini but without all of the seeds, this was, by far, the most prolific squash plant I’ve ever seen. We only had two and they produced upwards of 50-75 squash. It was CRAZY.
Tomatoes
Early Girl
Mortgage Lifter
Rosella - these were our favorite this year. Incredibly sweet, kept well, and just tasted like pure summertime!
Onions - We had a heck of a time finding onions this year due to the pandemic. We ended up planting some super tiny red and sweet onions that we found at a local hardware store.
Sweet Potatoes
FLOWERS
I’ve planted a few bulbs in the past, but I tend to enjoy flowers from seed the best. They are usually a bit more wild and carefree, which I enjoy in the summer. We have a lot of flowering plants on our land which means we also have a lot of pollinators that frequent the garden. If you don’t however, flowers are a great way to bring birds, butterflies and bees - all necessary for a flourishing garden!
P L A N T I N G | C O N T R O L
PLANTING
We border zones 5b/6a, so our typical outdoor growing season is from late May - early November. I start a few seeds indoors sometime in March for transplanting outdoors once any chance of frost is behind us. I’ve concentrated on tomato and pepper seeds to date, but starting seeds early is a great way to get a jump start on your garden, especially if you live even further north than we do and have a short growing season. We also direct sow (plant seeds directly in the garden) - things like greens, beets, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, peas, beans, herbs, squash, flowers, etc. all do well as direct sow seeds in our zone. We tend to transplant things like tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, potatoes, onions, and basil (aka - I either start these indoors in March/April or we buy them from as plants from local nurseries in May).
CROP ROTATION / UP DOWN METHOD
We typically do two plantings a year - our initial planting in late May and another round of hardy items in late July (greens, beets, carrots, cabbage, winter squash, etc.). When planting in the fall and/or the following spring, we always rotate our crops. If tomatoes were in bed A this summer, we’ll make sure they are in bed B the following summer. I also try to follow a simple “up/down” methodology. For instance, if I had beets planted in bed C, they grow their fruit DOWN in the soil, so when I go to plant something behind them, I’ll make sure to plant something that grows its fruit UP like cabbage, tomatoes, peas, beans, etc.
TRELLIS / CAGE
There are endless ways to control and manage garden growth. We tend to work with what we have on hand, but trellising is an excellent way to contain even the most enormous plants in a small space. You can build or buy fancy solutions, but we’ve had our best luck with some simple cattle fencing and steel farm fence t-posts. We zip tie the two together, and trellis everything from cucumbers, to snow peas, to beans. You could use the same stuff to make an arched trellis which not only looks cool, but is a great solution for vining plants like squash and pumpkins. I think I may try something similar next year.
And although just about every reputable gardener will tell you not to use metal tomato cages, we still do and have had decent luck. There are likely much better ways to manage tomato plants, but we have them and it’s working just fine for us for now.
M A I N T E N A N C E
TIME
The amount of time one spends in the garden varies greatly. Garden size, plant type, time of year, etc. are all critical factors. We may spend an entire weekend prepping the garden in early spring yet only 5-10 minutes/night when everything is flourishing. The one thing I would definitely keep in mind is that a garden can be self sufficient for a few days, maybe even a week if you have an automated watering system, but if you tend to be gone for weeks at a time with no one to look after your plants, a big garden may not be for you. We’ve been gone for 5-7 days in years past and come back to a garden full of weeds and riddled with pests. It takes SO much longer to take care of a garden this way, and it’s not nearly as enjoyable. I’d highly recommend short and consistent maintenance every few days.
COMPOST
The very best gardening advice I have is COMPOST. At the end of the day, rich soil is going ensure even the most finicky plants have a place to thrive. We add a layer of fresh compost to our beds every spring. No fertilizer, no chemicals, just organic compost. We actually have a compost tumbler in our garden that collects all of our kitchen scraps and then another large pile at the back of our property where we throw large yard/garden scraps, but even still, we have compost from a local nursery delivered to meet our needs.
PRUNING
I am not a pruning expert. In fact, this is the very first year I put any dedicated effort into pruning our tomato plants. I’d say I found there to be positives and negatives. On the positive side, we most definitely saw an early onset of fruit and higher production over the course of the summer. The entire theory around pruning is that you remove the dead and unnecessary growth to allow the fruit to shine. But that also leads to my negative… I think it was a combination of things, but I found pruning left me with fewer low leaves which meant consistent rains throughout the summer allowed for splashing up onto the plants leading to lots of fungus issues. Now was it only because I pruned? I definitely don’t think so. Do I think it allowed the fungus to spread high into the plants, yes. I think this is another good reason to add straw to the base of the plants, so that’s on the list of things to try next year.
P E S T S | A N I M A L S | W E E D S
PESTS
Worms, bugs, aphids, ticks, moths. You name it, we’ve seen it. They’re a nuisance, no doubt, but it’s just part of the gardening process. We don’t spray chemicals on our garden. I don’t want to eat that, and I don’t want Marin around that stuff. Instead, I’ve found consistent maintenance to be an excellent method. Tyler and I check on the garden every evening - continually monitoring for bugs. This is extra critical in those early growing days - June is prime time around here. Broccoli is an excellent example. It never fails that we get little worms ALL OVER our broccoli leaves. They can wreak havoc in a matter of hours, but we go out and smash every worm we see night after night until we pick our broccoli in early July. It sounds labor intensive, but it’s really not bad when done regularly. I’ve also had luck with a soap + water spray for many bugs, but just keep in mind that you’ll likely need to spray again after each rain.
Moving forward, I’m going to try to be more intentional about companion planting - planting vegetables, flowers, herbs, etc. that deter a pest next to plants that attract a pest. This is also the base theory around polyculture gardening. If you’re interested in reading up on Monoculture vs. Polyculture, this is a great read. I’ve done some of this in the past, but I’m going to put additional planning into it next year. A great example would be tomatoes surrounded by basil, parsley, and garlic.
ANIMALS
If there is one question I get more than any other it’s “how do you keep animals out of the garden?”. Unfortunately, I don’t have a good answer. I do think raised beds help deter some smaller animals, but overall, we just haven’t had many animal issues. I attribute it to the fact that animals have so many other food sources around here, but I really don’t know for sure. When we lived in the city, our garden would get ravaged by squirrels every single year. I know how frustrating that can be! Unfortunately, I just don’t have a good solution.
WEEDS
In regards to weeds, yes, we have them. I do think raised beds help keep things more manageable, but my best tip is to be consistent. I go out to the garden at least once each day - picking fruit, pruning a few plants, and picking weeds as I see them. When done regularly, it doesn’t even feel like a chore or take more than a couple minutes. It’s when you leave the garden for a week and come back to find the weeds are suddenly bigger than the plants that you have a problem. A lot of people also recommend using mulch or straw around plants. We haven’t taken that approach ourselves, but it is a good way to retain moisture in the soil and would likely cut down on weeds - although I’ve found weeds to grow anywhere and everywhere, so don’t think you’re never going to have to pull weeds with a garden!
H A R V E S T | S T O R A G E
“How do I know when to harvest/remove/plant/re-plant/etc.?”
I get these questions all the time and my best advice is to read your seed packets. All of this information is listed on the back of each packet as well as ideal soil content, seed depth, bugs to watch out for, and so much more.
In regards to storage, we eat a diet high in vegetables through-out the year, but never more so than in the peak of summertime. Our garden isn’t huge, but we are able to grow ample supply for us to eat through-out spring/summer/fall and store for winter. My favorite way to preserve foods is freezing. We have a deep freeze in our basement, and it holds all of our hardwork from those warm months. I like to use Ball Jars and silicone bags to hold sauces, soups, chopped veggies, pesto, etc.
Why don’t we can? Canning is a great way to preserve, but freezing is just so simple! You don’t need any extra equipment, no additives, and flavor/texture is preserved quite well. If you don’t have a lot of freezer space, give canning a try.
There are also a lot of veggies that preserve well in dark and cool places that require no freezing or canning like potatoes, onions, beets, and winter squash. Directions for preserving are usually included on the back of your seed packets, so be sure to check there, but in general, you can usually follow this method:
When fruit is ripe, cure at about 80F for one week (we use our garage). Store at 50F, 50% relative humidity with air exchange for best storage (we use our basement, but a root cellar is ideal). Higher humidity, up to 70%, can extend storage. Plan to use all by early spring. Monitor storage for fruit loss.
W H A T W E N T W E L L , N O T S O W E L L , & F U T U R E P L A N S
WENT WELL
Compost
We added a thick layer of compost to all of our beds this spring, and our plants just thrived. I would highly recommend adding compost, even a thin layer, each spring, fall, or both.
Layout
I really liked the layout we had this year. It’s always in constant rotation, but I feel as if we’re getting into a good groove when it comes to companion planting, trellising, and space requirements. With that said, however, I do think we’re going to try to expand the garden next year.
Seeds
This was my first year starting seeds indoors before the outdoor planting season. It was a little hit or miss, I’ll know much better for next year (see below), but we had several tomato plants that thrived and started from a tiny seed - SO COOL!
Centercut Squash
This was, by far, our most prolific plant. Similar to a zucchini but with fewer seeds and not so watery, I will definitely plant this again - just maybe one plant instead of two.
Trellis
Even though our trellis wasn’t very sophisticated, it worked extremely well in our high winds. Our cucumbers, snow peas, and beans all thrived. I actually may try to trellis even more plants next year - especially squash.
NOT SO WELL
Fungus
I had a heck of a time dealing with fungus on our tomato plants this year. It’s never happened before, so I’m not entirely sure of the cause, but it was a big pain in the butt. Fungus attacks the leaves of the plant, not the fruit, so if you can catch it early, you have a chance to save the plants. I ended up spraying ours twice this year with a soap + water mixture. It definitely works to kill the fungus and the plant always came back stronger than ever, but after a few weeks, the fungus would come back. Ugh! I’m planning to wipe down all cages to prevent any future spread next year and also consider adding some straw to the base of our plants to prevent splashing when it rains.
Peppers
Not a single one of our bell pepper plants made it this year, and I have no idea why. We’ve never had great luck with large pepper plants. Hot peppers? Those thrive. I need to do some more research for next year…
Companion Planting
I did a tiny bit of it this year, but I’m going to put a lot more thought and planning into it next year. My biggest issue is that I like a very clean and tidy garden, so I need to come up with a design that still achieves that while creating a natural habitat to deter pests.
Onions
We like to buy onions in early spring from a local nursery but had a heck of a time finding any this year. We ended up with some teeny tiny onions and they just didn’t do well.
FUTURE PLANS
Re-build garden beds. We always knew we would need to do it, but I think next year might be the year.
While we’re at it, I think we may expand the garden just a bit by adding another perimeter 2’ bed around the current footprint.
Building a barn is high on our wishlist. Although definitely not a requirement of a garden, it would be really nice to have a space to store some of our equipment to free up the garage.
We’ve been talking about adding chickens for quite some time, so that’s on the list.
Bee hives have also been on the list. We know some people that rent out their land for others to maintain bees and in exchange you get free honey - that may be a good solution for us.
I’ve also thrown around the idea of a greenhouse, but it’s much lower in priority.
