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Happy Days Farm

Loving the backyard farm life

in Gardens

Starting a Raised Garden

Do you want a vegetable garden, but for many different reasons, you don’t think it is possible?
1. You have tried before, and the garden failed.
2. You were told your soil wasn’t good enough.
3. You don’t have enough time.
4. You have garden pests that destroy everything.
5. You have a bad back, and you can’t bend over to tend the garden.
Did you know that all of these can be solved by building a raised garden?
The amount of problems you encounter will determine what type of bed you need. We have a horrible
time with deer eating everything, and I loved the idea of controlling the soil completely, so a raised bed seemed like the perfect solution for us.

 

When we built our raised bed garden, I wanted to make sure that it would accomplish all the things we mentioned above, and make this garden simple to maintain.
As you can see. The beds are built up high enough so that we can actually tend the plants without bending over. When you have a raised bed, weeds are usually not as big of an issue as they are in a traditional garden.
So, to combat the deer situation, we actually built walls around the entire garden, which are doubling as a place for our beans to grow up, and a place we will be able to use as supports for our sunflowers.
Against the back wall, we have an entire row of sunflowers growing. On each end, we planted three cucumber plants. Six tomato plants are in the center section of the back bed, with marigold flowers in between each one. In the front sections, we have two zucchini plants and two squash plants. Finally, around the perimeter we have green string beans english peas. In the late fall, I plane to switch it out and put in a fall crop of lettuces. Around the outside perimeter of the garden, we have various herbs growing: dill, parsley, thyme, basil, and more.
Another issue we face is Carolina clay. We were introduced to a product and got to use it a few weeks ago when we attended the Garden2Grow event at P. Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain Farm. It is called ‘Good Dirt.’ This dirt is all-natural, and utilizes ‘bog-bits’ to make it drain wonderfully. A huge bag weighs a fraction of traditional gardening soil, but still fills the same container amount as the traditional bags. Once again, this product, along with a raised bed, would make an ideal set up for seniors who still love the idea of gardening, but may not be able to physically lift a 50 pound bag of soil.
Finally, we needed a table set up so that we could manage our smaller containers and keep everything organized. We had been eyeing this Potting Bench with sink from Gardener’s Supply for some time, and decided we had the perfect spot for it now. A potting bench is another great way to avoid having to get up and down off the ground constantly while gardening. This product is also much more than your average potting table, it is quality wood and super-easy to assemble. The table top can be solid for extra workspace, or you can use the sink option for water or soil. Plus, the extra shelf on the bottom and the top give lots of storage for pots, and other miscellaneous gardening items.
If you want to start raised beds of your very own, here are a couple starter kits that we would recommend you trying out!
If you are interested in trying out a raised bed on a smaller scale, I recommend trying this beauty from Gardener’s Supply Company.
It is made from cedar and is 2 feet x 8 feet, giving you ample room to grow so much on your back porch. Plus, it has a great pivoting trellis that allows you to grow vine plants if you like! The smaller option is a 4 foot x 4 foot cedar planter. Either of these options would be a great way to start, or get back into gardening and growing your own vegetables and herbs.

If you are interested in your very own potting bench, here is the one we ordered.
(These 3 photos are courtesy of Gardener’s Supply)

Previous Post: « P. Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain Farm Part 2: The Flowers
Next Post: Preventing Heat Exhaustion in your Backyard Chicken Flock »

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Since 2012 we have been blogging as Happy Days Farm, but the love of decorating and living the country life has long been a part of who were are. [Read More]

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Instagram post 2178715757091902350_506990453 I'm getting into Thanksgiving mode! How about you? I've been thinking about the foods to prepare and how I want to decorate my Thanksgiving table. I like to do something different each year, and I have something I'm excited about trying this year. Here are some pics of last year's table and the table from a couple of years ago. I have a set of blue and white turkey plates, and a set of red and white turkey plates. Which do you like best, and which should I use this year? .
Oh, we watched one of my favorite Holiday movies today, "An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving" from the book written by Louisa May Alcott. It's wonderful,  and one I know you would love to see. There is a sequel as well, "An Old Fashioned Christmas". You can get the link in stories!
Instagram post 2178434534771678607_506990453 It's Saturday,  and Ruby is ready for an adventure.  Where shall we go?
Instagram post 2178016252310733519_506990453 Happy Fluffy Butt Friday from the girls at Happy Days Farm. Oh, and Popeye too.
Instagram post 2177711215025923682_506990453 Happy Friday!
Instagram post 2177375886737675140_506990453 Come on in and sit a spell. 🧡
Instagram post 2177233996277257326_506990453 Now what's for supper.........
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The other day when I posted about my kitchen island, I asked everyone what was a must have if they were designing a kitchen. So many commented that they would have a walk-in pantry. I had never had a pantry before we built our house, (for 28 years). Here's what our pantry looks like. I have one of those glass doors with a pretty design saying "Pantry" on it, but I never close the door. I just like seeing all the different colors, shapes and textures in there.
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