The Test Garden

One of the biggest ways to become self-sufficient would have to be planting a Garden and while we are not even close to being ready to grow everything we would need for a year, we are definitely well on our way to figuring things out... well... as close as you can be when it comes to gardening.  Gardening is one of those areas where you are constantly learning, constantly changing things, etc... 

This year we planted what I like to call our Test Garden.  It is made up of 6 raised 4’ x 8’ beds with pallets connecting them for trellising the plants as well as for some kid friendly fun which I’ll get to in a bit. We made the beds out of barn tin, wood fence posts, pallets, and T-posts which we already had so with exception to the trim, 2 x2 braces, and compost, this project cost next to nothing.  We filled these beds half way with rotting wood and Limbs and then filled in the rest with half compost and half soil from our property.  I think all in all we spent around $130.00 but we are talking about six beds!  

Here is a picture of my two oldest grandsons with their Pappy (aka that most wonderful husband of mine), helping fill in one of the beds.

If you are wondering how I decided on the design of these beds I can tell you I put a lot of thought into it!   One of the reasons was because I wanted it to be both functional as a garden as well as being a place the grandkids could enjoy playing around while we were working it.

Here is a simple sketch of what I decided to base our plan on.

I could just imagine the kids driving their little 12-volt jeeps under the pallet tunnel full of vining veggies so this was it!

I also did my best to figure out what I actually wanted to grow and where.  I would like several of the beds to eventually be full of perennial veggies so growing on the first set of trellises are Cucamelons which in our area are suppose to be considered perennial.  I had no clue if I would even like them but decided to try them out.  As you can tell by the first and last pictures in this post, which are also the most recent, they are taking over!  They taste like a very mild cucumber to me and will pickle easily!  They are also really stinking cute!  

Some of these plants and seeds were planted just to see how well they’d grow while others were a must.  Example.  I had never planted bush green beans before so I planted them with the strawberries knowing that if they were easy to grow I would probably move them out of the raised beds and plant a big plot of them for canning next year.  

Here are some pictures of how it started out and what it looks like now.

Ray is the sweet man we bought this property from years ago.  He died several years back but for some reason the property has always been known to us as Rays place and it has stuck!

We also wanted to add some extra fun for the kids by putting some chainsaw carved animals around where they would see them as they drove through.  My husband is getting really good at this type of art and I am so impressed with them!

Isn’t this fun!  The boys always enjoy going to Ray’s and driving their jeeps!  We actually got three of these In different colors for a great price on Amazon about a year ago.  Here is a link if you’d like to check them out! https://amzn.to/3hZwsQs

Our Asparagus bed turned out awesome and has definitely been a successful test bed.  Since we couldn’t harvest them this first year, I planted some cantaloupe at each end which has really taken off!  Also, I planted a few sunflower plants from seed fairly early in the season and they have gotten to be at least 10 feet tall and blooming!  I’ve never seen anything like them!

One small fail was the yellow squash.  It’s producing well which is most important but I had to make a note to self on this one because in my mind squash will trellis and... yes well... not so much!  🤷‍♀️  Next year the squash will be moved out of the raised bed so we can have more plants for more produce so no biggy!  Live and learn! 😂  

The beans have done quite well from seed so I’m excited to plan on planting a bumper crop next year for canning!

We have had some hits and misses with the tomato bed.  We definitely will be working up something different with the soil base there but I definitely learned a lot with this one.  Every time I had an issue with this bed the iPad came out and research ensued so I’m expecting a lot better outcome in the tomato department next year... and after all... that’s what this is all about right?🤷‍♀️

We have definitely 

seen each beds good qualities as well as bad, but when we decided to go with raised beds we knew there would be an added learning curve.  Hence the name Test Beds 😉