After last year’s successful container garden, I decided to up the stakes and build a “real” garden in my back yard. Following in the footsteps of Get Rich Slowly’s J.D. and wife in tracking their garden’s production, I’ve decided to chronicle my experiment for you.
Before winter came, I measured out a 10′ by 10′ square at the back of my yard. Since it’s away from the house, I don’t have to worry about the garden getting enough sun during the peak growing months and it’s also centered to the sides of my land so I can add fruit trees later if I decide to build a home orchard (which I’d like to do this Fall).
To frame the garden, I chose four 10′ 4″x4″ treated timbers for a total of $48 to build a square frame. Initially, I planned to dig out the sod to use in other places of my yard and embed the timbers two inches into the ground. I began the excavation two weeks ago, but I wore out after digging out only 10 square feet. Shortly after, the Spring rains came and the small area I dug out flooded and stayed full of water for over three days.
The minor flood was a blessing in disguise since it happened before I got too far along in the project. The land at the back of my yard is low, so it has a tendency to hold water. Since I didn’t consider that when I was designing my garden, I had to adjust my plans and use a raised bed since I’d rather not drown all my plants.
To finish the raised bed, I still need to haul in about two truckloads of top soil to fill the garden, mix in the vermicompost I’ve harvested so far, then I need to devise a way to keep it all from washing out. Most likely, I won’t be able to solve the washout problem this year. I expect I’ll have to build up the garden using bigger timbers and embed the first level a few inches into the ground to make up for the uneven land. Then I’ll have to add adequate drainage to the structure to keep it from flooding. In all, that would be too much expense for the first year of this experiment so I’ll just wait and see and patch the flaws as they appear.
So that’s where the experiment sits for now: The ground is finally starting to dry out (even though there’s more rain on the way); my timbers are in place; I have a partly-filled in 10 foot long hole in my yard; and I’m waiting until I have time to go purchase and haul the top soil to continue work. I hate to be stuck going nowhere with this, but I know it will happen soon enough.
Garden Experiment Scorecard
| Total Garden Cost to Date: | $48 |
| Total Garden Time Invested: | 5 hours |
Photo by: Martin LaBar
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I think you will enjoy gardening. You can cut costs significantly by finding a farming feed store near you. They tend to sell soil and seed for far less than the home improvement places. Also, try to save your seeds from your yield to further cut costs on replanting next year. We saved our heirloom tomato seeds last year. Growing your own food is fun – enjoy!
I am starting a garden myself this winter! I hadn’t thought of tracking the expenses though… hmmm… maybe I will have to work on that too!