Creating a food-producing vegetable garden can be, with a little planning, not only enjoyable but very rewarding.
Here are 7 advantages to creating raised beds for food production in your own backyard:
- They look better because the area is more orderly and defined
- Soil conditions and can be better controlled
- Water, fertilizer and compost can be more accurately applied
- They drain more efficiently
- You do not have to step in the garden thereby reducing soil compaction providing for healthier plants as their roots need loose soil and air to flourish
- Plants can be spaced a little closer together increasing productivity per square foot of garden area (some claim it doubles productivity)
- Raised beds are easier to weed and maintain – saving your back and your knees
Next I’ll share the considerations and reasons around the planning of our own garden.
I initially wanted to name this article ‘My Sustainable Garden’ but in doing my research I found that that term made things way too complicated. Yes, I wanted an are in our yard that could feed our family and I wanted it to be as organic as possible, but raising chickens and rabbits to use their poop as fertilizer was just a bit much for me. So I decided instead to call it what is it – A fun, food-producing garden.
One of my greatest joys in life is walking around the yard with a morning cup of coffee and watching the progress my tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers are making. Even more delightful is harvesting and feeding my family with the fruits of my labor!
Most of our backyard is a pool area that just came with the house. (I would have preferred garden space) However, there is a “not good for much of anything” area behind the garage that gets good sunlight that I really wanted to make useful. No need to waste space and time mowing and edging something that has no use, right? There is a large slab poured there that the former home owners’ son played basketball on. It would make an ideal area for patio furniture so I decided to create my space with lounging on the patio in mind. My goal was to dedicate the whole area to gardens and trees that produce fruits and vegetables. It is not a large area and I wanted to only harvest enough vegetables to eat a day at a time, so I decided making raised bed gardens was my best choice. There are many advantages to raised bed gardens.
In my next post I will share 7 advantages to creating raised-bed gardens.
“From the dog’s point of view, his master is an elongated and abnormally cunning dog.”
~Mabel Louise Robinson
What truth! I love my dogs. I wake up every morning to wagging tails and puppy kisses. It is so wonderful to be so loved and adored. My dogs think I hung the moon and that I am the greatest person in the world! They live to please me. How could I not love, love, love them!!
But, they are dogs! They are messy and time consuming. I love my home too and I love my home clean. But let’s face it, my dogs could care less! They track in mud, leaves, water. They think, I think just like them! They consider my carpet to be the place to rub the mud off that is clinging to their backs. They spill water every time they drink from their water bowl with no consideration for the puddles they are creating on the floor. So, as a result I end up mopping and vacuuming my house everyday! Sometimes I do it more than once!
It is my choice to have dogs that live inside and share my life. They are not going to accommodate me. I have to accommodate them. That is the price I pay for being higher on the food chain. I cannot train them to appreciate a clean, odorless home the way I do so I have to furnish my house to conform to their needs.
I am slowly resolving the sources that cause the problems so that I do not continually have to clean up after the issues. I am doing things like:
- Building wood decking over areas in the yard that have a tendency to dirty their paws to keep them from tracking in mud.
- Covering areas where they trail back and forth with rock to keep paws dry and clean.
- Building a potty area to contain the area where they do their business.
- Getting rid of carpeting and installing wood and tile in areas of my house where they are allowed.
It is only fair to pets for you to identify the sources of the problems they cause and resolve them rather than you expecting them to learn to avoid the problems. They do not have the same reasoning skills as us! If you do that, you will find your pets are half the trouble and double the enjoyment!
