Big news! We are moving soon—across the country. In my work on the new place, I found I couldn’t pass up on at least starting an easy garden. My hands must be in the soil! So while doing work on the new place, I went shopping and got some soil, a few plants, and a couple pots (though I found some on the land that I cleaned up).
In saying goodbye to the homestead on the island and looking forward to the new place we are moving to, I learned one extensive lesson in this last homestead:
It’s OK to take the first year mostly off, learn the land, and go from there.
I nearly burned myself out on the island in the summer of 2018. After leaving behind a well-crafted urban farm, I desperately wanted an established garden. I spent the entire spring and fall frantically trying to get beds in the ground and spending too much money on temporary deer fences.
It’s easy to forget that making that urban farm, like our homestead on the island, took years of hard work.
I cannot forget that I also worked on our homestead for 7 years. It takes time!
If there is one thing that isn’t hard, it is to start a kitchen garden.
It’s a low investment. Our new place has a deck off the living room, baking in the sun. Under it is a brick patio where pots can be put out.
Turning land, building beds, or putting up wildlife fences are unnecessary until we are settled in. Just fill pots, grow bags, plant items, enjoy herbs, and produce them in the first summer and fall. The investment is in a few bags of soil and the containers.
It’s still awhile till spring, so I planted things had been in the cold already.
Two grapes, 2 blueberries and bare root strawberries. I also planted a bulb of garlic I brought with us, to restart my hardneck garlic.
I will move the grapes later, into the ground, but I wanted them to get going, to waken up.
I found an old wheelbarrow, all rusty and unusable. By it, I found broken pottery, so I put them together and made a deep planter to add. Use what you have first before spending money. I planted garlic in it. Again, nothing says I will leave it in there, but it can sit for a few weeks until I have time to build the first beds. The garlic will sprout, and start growing for us.
As spring happens, I will add a lot more on the patio. Lettice, bush peas, and so on. Herb plants. A seat or two, to invite one to hang out and enjoy the views. It will be easy to maintain, and quick to walk out to, to take care of.
~Sarah