Square Foot Gardening

One of the garden beds with the new cages.

Blueberries

Grapevines

I should start off this post with my best Leonard 'Bones' McCoy impersonation, "I am a homeschool mom not a Master Gardener!"  However that doesn't change the fact I will keep planting things in the ground and being blissfully amazed when they grow!

Last summer after diligent Internet searches I decided what I needed to be a successful gardener was raised beds.  With that revelation, Jon and Caleb dutifully built three eight-foot square raised beds.  Which included bringing in an entire truck load of dirt plus railroad ties and garden timbers, etc.  Our yard in an 'over-sized' city lot on a corner, which from the acreage I grew up on translates to a postage stamp.  Nevertheless, the yard is L-shaped and in the long narrow portion of the yard they built these wonderful raised beds. 

They were a definite improvement over the previous years gardens however, bunnies, squirrels and even birds made off with more produce than made it to our kitchen table.  This year Jon and Caleb built cages of netting around the beds to keep out such critters.  The girls went out periodically to QC the guys work, it's funny that the only picture I took was the girls 'working' with Jon, when the truth is Jon and Caleb spent multiple hours working on this project. 

The beds are also fenced in with privacy fence on two sides, the house on the third side and a chain link fence to protect the fourth side.  Along the chain link fence I've planted grapes and blueberries which thrive in Spring.  Hopefully this year will yield a bounty of veggies and if not I'm sure there will be some modification for next year.  Thank you guys!

The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty,
to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands.

Deuteronomy 28:12