On March 24 we made the decision to completely transform our garden!
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Sometimes we get into ruts.
They don’t have to be deep. Some are shallow puddles. Others grow into creeks, while still others become ponds and rivers and lakes and oceans. I think you catch our drift (pun intended).
We found ourselves in a semi-rut this year as we prepared to plant our garden. At the beginning of 2024 we started binge watching market gardening videos. What on earth were hoop houses? How come high tunnels were so popular with market gardeners and the key to their success? Wouldn’t that hot plastic scorch the poor babies in the summertime?
For a little while there our entire family would gather in the evenings to eat up random YouTube videos about market gardening. We got inspired. And suddenly we decided that if they can do it, then surely we can do it.
*insert slight chuckle*
The Work Begins
That was January. Fast forward to March 18. We filmed the first segment of our full garden transformation video. We had plans, big plans, and got to work. The raised beds that we had been using year after year after year for the past twelve years were now crumbling and falling apart. As a family we set to work tearing down, removing the old boards, nails and screws. It was progress.
And then…
We had a revelation.
What if we went *really* big? Like so big that we would outdo even ourselves…
Yeah, that might work!
So we filmed segment #2.
We wouldn’t just redo our garden beds into pretty little market garden rows like the pros. We would completely remove our exterior garden fence (the fence that had been sheltering our beloved for the past 12 years, mind you). And instead of four rows, like the previous garden that we knew and loved, we decided on eight.
Wild, right?
Progress on the Full Garden Transformation
It’s probably good we didn’t know how much work it would take before we took the plunge. The work was immense. But we got to it. We tore down the exterior garden fence. The *very* established muscadine vines that had produced fruit for us over the years and therefore had vast networks of roots just below where our future rows would go had to be pulled up, fought, and removed.
Then there was the issue of elevation. The north side of our garden sloped downward rather significantly. Solution? To the woods we go!
An estimated 20 *free of charge but labor intensive* dump trailer loads of dirt (aka. roots, sticks, snakes, etc.) were brought from our woods and painstakingly dumped at the north side of the garden. The mounds were leveled by our trusty skid steer (whom we have affectionately named, Guido), and our two-wheel tractor helped to shape and neatify (okay, maybe we made up that word), the beds.
The whole family chipped in and sifted load after load of dark black soil (also harvested from the woods) and carefully removed debris, sticks and stones. This took upwards of many hours.
Finished
We didn’t anticipate this renovation taking us seven weeks. And if we are being entirely honest, we didn’t *just* renovate our main garden. We also added an entire extension to our herb garden, using the same methods of intensive labor. More on that soon… ????
So folks, we’re tired and sore.
But we just filmed the final day of work!
And Y’all!! Could it be better!
We would love for you to take a peek at the grand reveal in this week’s YouTube video. It took us a lot of time, but the rewards, we hope, will be great!
We also plan to film an updated progress video in the summer once we’ve gotten our rows good and planted.
Until then, we thank you for being here. And we can’t wait to share more with you soon. ❤️
Blessings,
The Reed family
