It’s been a while since I’ve talked about let alone sharing my garden. I knew going into 2023 it was not going to be that great if I was going to have a garden at all. In 2024 I was hoping to expand quite a decent amount and even bigger than I’ve done in past years.
Late into 2023, I had two tomato plants, a bell pepper, a jalapeno, and a couple of basil. The tomatoes and bell peppers rather liked the cooler weather. The jalapeno and basil would not end up making it a couple of months later. They turned more into weeds than anything else.
A couple of months ago I started germinating quite a few bell peppers and tomato plants. Most of them germinated and I put them into a starting tray for the time being. Most of them, however, would not end up surviving. Not even lasting three weeks afterward. I still was left with some.
With what would remain they would have to survive for quite a few more months. I knew I did not have the room to expand out into a large container garden like I’ve done in the past. At least at that point in time. They were going to be moved quite a decent distance before finding their next resting place.
Slowly the tomato plants started to produce a little something. It was enough to keep me entrained and I’ve always enjoyed just going out and picking something from the garden for lunch or dinner. Those were always wonderful days.
Over the past many years, I’ve been almost exclusively gardening out of buckets and other containers. While in 2024, that kind of gardening is not coming to an end. I am rather pleased that I have moved onto using an actual garden bed. One that I would be building.
There was just a bit of an issue. I’m now at a place that has quite a heavy clay content for soil. Thankfully the spot I picked for the first foot or so has some mixed clay and dirt. It would however be quite hard digging through grass, tree roots, and clay that got thicker the deeper down I went.
I also knew if I did not go down far enough, I’d have issues planting. Things like carrots would end up being quite stubby. It would be hard to place tomato cages or possibly other structures in the future into the garden bed.
At the time I was working on quite a few other projects. Those projects required quite a bit of topsoil. While topsoil for a garden is not ideal. I ended up using it more as a filler than anything else.
With how large a delivery fee is just to get topsoil let alone something a bit better out here. It just made sense to get a full truck of topsoil, and anything left would end up being a large part of the garden.
The plan was to put in a 6 by 12-foot garden. I ended up using some 4 by 4 by 6 lumber that is suited for ground contact. It was pressure-treated yellow pine. The size worked great since it could be fitted into a car. I would not need to pay a delivery fee that would be almost half the cost of the lumber alone.
The garden bed is also on a bit of a slope. This ended up working in my favor. The low side would be 3 lumbers high making it almost a foot off the ground like a raised bed. The rest would be one or two depending on where on the slope it was.
I ended up putting the lumber down and making a rough outline of it. I then went to work which ended up taking a little over a day. Once it gets midday here it just becomes far too hot to do much work outside. Once I was done, I placed the lumber down again and was rather pleased with how close I got things.
The next process was digging down. I did not get any photos of the start of that process. The bottom layer was going to be some leftover cardboard. Although I doubt weeds were going to be an issue with how hard the clay layer was at the bottom. It should decay over the next year adding some organic matter to the bottom layer.
Next up came a mix of topsoil, clay, and leaves. While the clay I have is not considered the “good stuff” that people pay good money for. Even it should be a decent benefit for the garden. It will help retain some water which, from the heat to the watering restrictions, is going to be quite needed. It should also have some nutritional benefits.
As I started to slowly layer things up, I started to reduce just how much topsoil was going into the mix. Next up came a mix of topsoil, peat moss, and black cow dirt. The final layer is peat moss, ash, and eggshell with a little topsoil mixed into it.
I then attempted to use railway ties on the lumber to connect them. It turns out I’m not a huge fan of them after putting in seven. Many of the sharp points ended up not going well into the treated lumber. So, I decided I’d just use them for all but the top lumber layer. They would at least provide some connection points to the lower lumber layers.
The top layer of lumber I’d be connecting to the layer below it with some strong ties. I ended up placing them in the middle of each lumber. Beyond adding to strength. Since they were going to be sticking up a little bit out of the dirt. I thought why not have three-foot distance markers built into the garden itself? I also used some corner strong ties to shore things up.
next up it was time to plan some things out. The left six feet of the garden are going to be beans and peas. Perhaps a bit much but I wanted to grow a proper amount this year since I was not going to be restricted to containers.
The beans were put in columns along the far-left side. I’m hoping they will be a bit easier to pick since that side is about a foot off the ground. To the right of that are the peas. Once things start growing a bit, I have plans to drop some steppingstones in any dead spots to get around a bit easier for harvesting.
Once I get an idea of how much space the beans and peas will end up taking up. Along with adding some kind of short wall to run up any vines at some point in the future. I’ll be filling in any extra areas with some other things that require more ground space than vertical height.
On the right side of the garden are going to be tomatoes, bell peppers, and a sweet banana pepper. Those are going to be placed in a way that can be mostly reached from the perimeter of the garden. With a possible option to add in some stones to walk on later if needed for harvesting.
In the middle, quite a few carrots were planted. Along with a column of carrots down one side more towards the middle of the garden to fill an empty spot. I will more than likely be using them in a few other empty spots once things have a chance to grow a bit.
For the time being there are four tomato plants, one banana pepper, and four bell peppers. Along with several seed packets of beans, peas, and carrots in the garden bed.
The garden bed is also not the only spot where I have things growing. There are still going to be the containers. There are another 3 tomato plants, two bell peppers, and a jalapeno in buckets. Some of them are survivors from last year.
You might also notice in the photo that it is not the only thing growing either. I was lucky enough to have some pineapple plants donated to me. That also inspired me to attempt to grow some of my own from the tops of pineapples.
The one with an actual pineapple on it is about two years old. The rest are under a year. Hopefully, in a few months, I’ll have my very own pineapple to taste test. They are so much better than store-bought. While it was tempting to get one of these into the garden bed itself. They are quite a long-term growing plant, and they can take up a fair bit of space. Perhaps next year I’ll build another garden bed.
Final Thoughts
There are still herbs and perhaps other things to plant like potatoes in a basket as well. My garden this year is going to be quite a bit bigger than in past years and will more than make up for how it was in 2023. I hope everyone is having success in their garden.
Information
Photos were taken and content was written by @Enjar about my garden.
Until she passed, my mom constantly worked on improving her soil by adding compostable materiel year after year...it is a life long process!
Love the pineapple. I grew one in Michigan that took 2 years. I need to start that again!
I was quite proud lol
I was quite shocked at the color and how it looked the first time I noticed one growing. I think my current one is more on the two year mark as well. Was so tempting to put some in the raised bed but that would just take up to much space. I might next year make some much smaller rows for future ones.