When we moved into this house about four years ago, the yard was a huge expanse of grass. The previous owners had some small landscaping "gardens" around the house, but nothing in the way of a vegetable garden or even decorative gardens elsewhere on our 3/4 acre site. The first summer we didn't grow much, there was a lot of other work that needed to happen on the property to get things ready to garden, and we focused on the easy projects of the gardens right around the house. Some of that first year was just waiting to see what comes up and figure out what is staying and what needs to be changed. The rest of the year was spent plotting and planning for the following summer.
The second summer was our most productive at this house so far. We tarpped over a 10x25 section of the backyard and added around 2 yards of compost to that and tilled it all in. The goal was (and still is) to move to mostly no-till beds, but we were starting with relatively sandy soil without much organic matter in it, so we knew that we were going to have to do a fair bit of soil amendments with compost and other organic matter to get some great beds for long-term use. That second summer we grew our pretty standard compliment of veg: collards, kale, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, hot peppers, and rutabaga. Donald did some experimentation with a three-sisters style planting and Angus picked out watermelon as his plant for the year. There were a lot of successes, the greens all did pretty well, and the rutabaga did great. Everything else was a little sad, but that had as much to do with a cold, dry summer that had us struggling with water the entire season. But overall it gave us hope for future endeavors and we knew it was a good site overall, but we really needed to address the lack of water on that part of the property. At the end of the season, we tripled the size of the main garden and put it all to sleep for the winter.
Year three was the folly of overconfidence. We got our 2 yards of compost that our township taxes give us and dropped it in the middle of the main garden, intending to once again fire up the tiller and get it all mixed in. Except the tiller wouldn't start. And when we dropped it off with the small engine shop they were backed up 2 week's with other jobs. Frustrated by the delays, we took a deep breath and reminded ourselves that a 2 week delay wasn't too bad. Well, 2 weeks stretched into a month, and then longer. We never got anything planted into the main garden last year and the tiller didn't get finished until after the first fall frost. In hindsight, we're could have borrowed or rented a tiller and gotten something, anything in the ground, but we didn't. So year three ended up being another planning year. We did get the rhubarb transplanted into some of our beds by the house and a small strawberry patch by the front door, so it wasn't a total failure, but not a great year.
We are getting ready for our fourth season at this house and it feels like everything is finally falling into place. We have already checked the tiller, have the compost center opening date on the calendar and our seed order is placed. There is a plan for getting water back to the main garden so we can water if needed. We are also going to put up fencing around the main garden so that the dog and marauding children can't hurt the garden. I'm also excited about putting in my culinary herb garden up near the house this year. I love cooking with fresh herbs but never remember to buy them, or balk at the prices knowing they are things I can grow pretty easily. The herbs are planned to be just outside the back door integrated into our patio space, which should be perfect for easy access.
There is a plan. There is hope. We just have to nurture it.