This might be the 6th or so year of The Pickleman Family Garden on #hive. What started as a reclamation of lawn and repurposing to a simple garden veggie box has become and expanding and perpetual yearly tradition of exploration.
This year, I am challenging myself with spending as little as possible and growing as much as possible.
Long Long Winter
The long Canadian winter is not kind to our back yard. Snow covers the yard for months and the dog has his way with the place as we avoid it and hibernate. It rains so much in the spring that I miss the sunny days to mow and the grass goes nuts. The garden boxes are full of weeds and dead plants from the previous year. The sidewalks looks like 70s porn and all I can think of is how much work it is going to take to even make it presentably.
told me to smoke the green and take care of it.OG Garden box
One of the bigger projects this year is to rebuild the oldest garden box that has just given up over this winter. The bottom 2x10 has seen too many seasons and soaked in too much water, as have the support posts. Wood is 8 times whatever you remembered paying in the past so a trip to the lumber store is out of the question if we are to do this on the cheap. This is a mess.
The solution I decided upon was to reclaim a wooden skid left out in front of one of the industrial businesses who offer them for free out by the road. Not recommended if you are unwilling to spend a full hour beating the shit out of hardwood nailed together with stainless nails and built to not come apart. If this is not a problem, you can reclaim some 6 foo 2x4s and some skinny planks for burning or repairing stuff. Some smashing and sawing and I have free supports to reattach the front of the box. Lower in the front to save wood and allow for more airflow.
The Rest
The rest of the beds looks like nothing but plenty of work weeding, cleaning, turning, fertilizing and planting. SO many 1-hour jobs. Then there are the flower beds. Ah spring.
I started by pulling out all the fencing, trellises, cages and tomato frames which I seem to have amassed over the years. Between the dog, birds and rabbits, I have to turn this place into Fort Knox so that I can have a tomato on my sandwich!
We started with the strawberry patch where the plants were thinned out over the winter and maybe only half of what they were last year. I love to pop a few new ones in every year as the others only last a couple years in this climate. I should harvest a couple strawberries full of seeds so that I can replant without having to buy but all last years were eaten. Good thing there is a sale at the high school green industries green house and my little one has a line on a few new ones for free!
Besides all the garden boxes, I have plenty of hanging baskets, herb planters and deck boxes to clean out, augment with triple mix and perlite. So much prep and planting!
Ready to Plant
At the end of a couple long days, we had them all weeded, rebuilt, tilled, fertilized and fresh piles of triple mix ready to be spread over the top few inches. I still have a second mowing to do and a pile of weeds to stuff in the composter but at least we are ready to survey and plant.. Tomorrow is supposed to be the last frost so perhaps this weekend we can get all our sprouts in the ground. I will have to save those for the next edition of the Pickleman Family Garden.
Early Blooms
Besides all of the annual fruits, veggies and flowers, I am lucky enough to have a whole crop of perennial including some early-blooming flowers. They bravely pop while there is the risk of frost and soak up the early sun so they can welcome the pollinators when they awake. Plenty of sun and rain make for some pretty cool garden views.
I will have to take a trip in the yard this week and try and count the number of different species of flowers already blooming. I beth there are 10,000 flowers on my little property already.
Mom started me along my path of growing stuff when I was a kid. Motivated by so many blockchain blogging gardeners, I figured I would plant and share and learn as I reclaim as much grass space as I can. It has turned out to be a fruitful experience and I hope to inspire others to sow and grow no matter what your location or experience level is.
Humble beginnings but I have big plans for the garden this year!
Wherever you are...JUST GROW!
I am honoured to curate for:
