Podcast Ep. 26: Garden Lessons
One of the things we were looking forward to with a new place was creating another garden. In this episode, we talk about planning for our third garden at the farmhouse. We discuss what we learned from planning and planting a tiny city garden and then moving up to a probably-too-big country garden. And now we’re hoping our upcoming farmhouse garden is going to be “just right.” (Like the porridge in Goldilocks.) Jami lists the vegetables and flowers she WILL grow again and the ones she WON’T grow again. Plus we talk about one of the main reasons we garden – to eat great food – as well as some recent discoveries, including Brian’s deal to get us kayaking more.
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Garden Lessons
Ah, I love looking at this view of our cottage’s beautiful backyard. Many, many hours were spent there enjoying dinners and parties and reading in the gazebo – and maintaining all the beds.
I did not want to see a big brown fence, so I planted beds all along it – which were pretty and gave me a lot more joy than a big brown fence. However, even though our paper-and mulch technique kept the weeds down and made them look great, it took months to complete all the beds each spring. Months. And that doesn’t include all the cutting back and watering.
Pretty much done with that. Oh, and this:
A huge berry patch. I love berries of all kinds and may have gone a bit overboard, a-hem. 12 blueberries, 4 Boysenberries, 3 Triple Crown blackberries, 4 Marionberries, 2 golden raspberries, and a series of raspberry plants that never made it past a year old. I had the room and I was determined to use it, ha!
But that’s 25+ berry plants at various times that need pruning, watering (though we did have this semi-automated and all I needed to do was turn it on and off) and so.much.harvesting.
I will repeat the grape arbor (love) and will plant 3 Triple Crown blackberries, 3 blueberries, and try again with raspberries. And that’s it – pinky promise.
The Specifics
In our list of what we’ll do again, these weed-killing techniques that we talked about in Episode 4 of the podcast are definites, along with our beloved paper-and-mulch for flower beds. The cardboard and wood chips I used in my mom’s weedy garden made it so there was NO weeding needed for a full 8 months (until the moles brought up new dirt and seeds, darn themā¦).
We’ll also used raised beds and use the no-till method – these both decrease the work load of a vegetable garden a lot. And I’ve already got a place set for the herb garden in the new place – having our other herb garden right out the back door was heavenly for cooking.
However, along with the other things we talked about, we’ll do the raised beds differently and will set up a better watering system, hopefully like this one we were inspired by.
We talked about some plants I want to grow again – and some I won’t. Many of those are found in this article.Ā Some of my favorite shade garden plants can be found in this article.
What’s Cooking
Recipes and techniques mentioned to preserve all that good food:
- Refrigerator Garlic Dill Pickles, Pickled Asparagus, and Pickled Green Beans
- Unblanched Green Beans
- how to freeze: Peppers, Corn 3 Ways, Berries, Jams, Beets
- Canning tomatoes: Favorite Thick Salsa, Pizza Sauce, Addictive Tomato Chutney
- Drying: Tomatoes Stored in Olive Oil and the BEST Dried Plums
This is Really Cool!
Brian – Inexpensive Kayak racks that work great: J-Bar Rack HD Kayak Carrier Canoe Boat Surf Ski Roof Top Mount Car SUV Crossbar
Jami – Wendell Berry Port William SeriesĀ andĀ books I’ve read so far: Hannah Coulter, Nathan Coulter, and Jayber Crow
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Hi Brian and Jami-
I absolutely love your podcasts! Every one of them. This is the first time I have thumbed thru your notes.
I was looking for the specifics on a tool recommendation of Brian’s. I think it was a torque wrench that he thought was great for putting garden beds together. Can you tell me more about it?
Thank you,
Toni from NW Oregon
That’s the Ryobi Impact Driver (though I think I emailed you the link, too?). I’m so glad you’re enjoying the podcasts, Toni!
Oh thank you very much! I will check my spam folders for your email!
I really appreciate you guys!
Thanks!
Your pesticjde works on everyihing, and usually one time, is generally sufficient.
We have lived here on this place 50 yrs. and you can google us. Today is our 61’st
Weddjng Anniversay.
Sincerely, Jim Garrett
I’m so glad to know that, Jim! And congrats on your 61st!! What an accomplishment. š
I am in the process of emptying all my raised beds and adding hardware cloth to combat voles. I know you both remember how horrible a job this is. Remember to vole proof your beds before they are installed!
I feel for you, Deborah – I remember it well. We will definitely try to think of all the things this time. š
Your backyard is absolutely gorgeous, relaxing, inviting, and a place you can never want to leave.
Thank you – we had many lovely times there.
I enjoyed this one about the garden plans at your new place. Very interesting that you had been harvesting so much that it was a bit of a burden. Will you be starting this year………………or will you be using all your time to work on the farmhouse renovations? Those deer being able to jump 6 foot fences…………what a problem!!!
Also, I didn’t get around to commenting, but I really enjoyed last week’s podcast as well. I think “A Day in the Life….” is a great topic. Hope you will do it quarterly……….in each season perhaps…………..or let us know how it changes once the reno stuff gets underway. I am curious if you will be working a little each day…………or specify days of the week that you work on the house.
Always enjoy your book selections, Jami, as they are wholesome, clean, etc.
What a great idea, Kim – we will sure think about that podcast idea (though we’re probably going to be “whenever we can grab a couple hours here and there” type of renoā¦).
After listening to this podcast I wanted to mention some good information about raised row beds. It’s on another website I read–oldworldgardenfarms.com. Lots of good info that might help you decide. And a comment about a book series I like that you may also because they just tell a story–Little Britches series by Ralph Moody. Try one and see what you think š Thanks for the good information you share! (When you purchase your Triple Crown berries–would you share where to buy them, please? Thanks!)
I will check that site out for sure, Sue, as well as that series – thank you!
Oh, and I did buy some bare-root berries already – I bought them from Burgess.
Thanks for this podcast, i do have 6 strawberry plants, 2 blueberry but thought i would wait to see how good they did before planting more, sorry i got tickled at all your berries. I am a little older so maybe that is the reason i haven’t over whelmed myself. I have 2 apple trees and one apricot. I love listen to your Podcast, keep up the fun stuff.
Yes, definitely too many berries for us. š