My Suburban Farm

I am sore…tired…sunburnt…and more excited then I have been in a long time!!  Mr. G and I finished putting my backyard vegetable garden together this weekend and I am so happy with the results.  If you read my previous posts Throwback Road 2012 Garden Plans or Raised Garden Beds you knew this was coming, but I have to be honest,  it has totally exceeded my expectations.  Here is my original garden mock up and I has been amazing to see this drawing come to life.

For the past two years, I have been gardening in these three raised beds.  These beds have taught me so much about water needs, calcium deficiency in tomatoes, Colorado climate, soil preparation…the list goes on and on.  I have been fairly successful in growing lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, spinach, and onions.  These three beds gave me the confidence to branch out this year and create my dream suburban garden.  If you are new to this blog you should know that I live in the suburbs of Denver and my yard space is very limited.  With that being said, with my new and old garden I will have a total of 288 square feet of vegetable space.  This does not include my edible/medicinal garden bed.  That is a lot of food for a family of four and I have some big dreams for canning this year. 

In the new garden space, there are (6) 4x6 beds and (2) 4x10 beds.  All of the wood is non-chemically treated wood that we picked up at our local hardware store.  It was great because they cut all of the wood for us on site.  I had no clue that it was a free service that they offered.  Sign me up I said.  Everything is held together by 3 inch galvanized screws.  The beds are laid on top of crushed gravel with a layer of weed barrier fabric underneath.  We had some extra flagstone from a previous project and sunk it in the gravel for a fancy pathway.  Living in the suburbs, where everyone is looking at each others yard, I thought that making it look pretty would keep the neighbors happy.  Happy neighbors = neighbors not telling on you next year when you start raising chickens….a big HOA no no.

Laying a flagstone walkway is really easy.  All you have to do is remove the extra crushed gravel and lay out your flagstone pattern.  Make sure that your flagstone is level and replace the gravel.  Lightly water the flagstone and hand tamp to make the area flat.  It is not perfect, but I love the final results.


Here are some shots of the back beds as well as my new perennial beds.  The majority of these perennials are not only pretty but have some sort of medicinal value.  I will do a blog post about this in the future.  I will not lie I did choose a couple plants just for their beauty.  I am also growing chives and dill in my basement which will become part of this bed.


Well, that is the tour.  I have organic planters mix being delivered today and I have hopes to have it in by midweek.  Mr. G is gone on business again this week, so I will be shoveling in dirt during nap times and early mornings.  I need to get in my early spring crops considering we are about 4-6 weeks from my last frost date.  Lots of work ahead of me this week!
Check out the hat that Big C got me as a surprise to celebrate my new garden.  He picked it out (with a little help from Mr. G) and I adore it!  He kept saying that it was my Colorado cowgirl garden hat.  So cute.

As always, thanks for stopping by Throwback Road.  It is readers like you that continually push me to keep this dream alive.  We are one step closer to self-sufficiency as it feels great.  Wish me luck this year and happy gardening!