Our Garden

This is our third year growing a vegetable garden and boy have we learned a ton. This year I think (hope) will be our best year yet. We are growing a variety of vegetables and herbs in a few different ways. As you know, we have our kitchen herb garden. We also have a few herbs potted on our back porch along with a small herb garden planted on the outside of our vegetable garden. I have always wanted to grow our vegetables in the raised beds, but it just hasn’t worked out. At our previous home, we grew our garden directly in the ground on the hillside. It was the perfect spot given the sunlight and adequate drainage.

Our first year was successful, however, we definitely didn’t give ourselves large enough spacing between rows. As our plants grew, it made it hard to fit between them to harvest. Towards the end of the growing season, we had a lot of visitors helping themselves to our vegetables whenever they pleased. Mostly rabbits but also deer. It was sometimes quite funny as they would take a bite out of each of our jalapeños to find out, it too is spicy.

The following year we decided to install a fence around the garden, increase our square footage, and of course plant more plants. It was a much better set up, however, we did move before the harvest was complete, so it was very sad to abandon the garden that we worked so hard to build that season.

Last fall, when we moved into our forever home, we mentioned building raised beds for the garden this year and placing a fence around it in our back yard. Our plans fell through only because we have so many dead trees that we need to knockdown. They are a safety hazard, but they are also blocking the valuable sunshine that would be necessary for the success of our garden. My husband and I improvised and did the best we could with what we have and decided to grow our garden in-ground in our front yard. It’s definitely not typical but it’s the best spot for sun and the drainage we need. We decided on a temporary fence this year since there is a possibility that we may move it to the back yard next year. If we decide to keep it in our front yard, we plan to add a permanent white decorative fence, increase the square footage, and add more perennial herbs & flowers around the outside of the fence.

Our garden is 35'x40'. We have 7 rows 36" apart with a walkway down the center.

What we are growing in the vegetable garden:

• Big Boy Tomato (3)

• Classic Eggplant (3)

• Medium Hot Scoville Heat Pepper (3)

• Mucho Nacho Jalapeno (3)

• Lady Bell Green Pepper (3)

• Early Sensation Yellow Pepper (3)

• Orange Blaze Pepper (2)

• Dark Green Zucchini (3)

• Green Beans (1 row)

• Carrots (1/2 row)

• Pickling Cucumbers (3)

• Slicing Cucumbers (3)

What we are growing in our herb/flower garden:

• Vicenza Blue Lavender- Deters deer. Attracts bees and other beneficial insects. Perennial herb.

• Avignon Early Blue Lavender – Deters deer. Attracts bees and other beneficial insects. Perennial herb.

• Garden Sage- Deters deer. Attracts bees and other beneficial insects. Perennial herb.

• Chamomile- Attracts bees and other beneficial insects. Perennial herb. Perennial herb.

• Champagne Bubbles Poppy Mix- Attracts bees and other beneficial insects. Perennial.

• Garden Gnome Iceland Poppy- Attracts bees and other beneficial insects. Perennial.

• Angel Shasta Daisy- Attracts bees and other beneficial insects. Perennial.

• Blue Eyed Beauty African Daisy- Attracts bees and other beneficial insects. Perennial.

• Western Star Leo Shasta Daisy- Attracts bees and other beneficial insects. Perennial. (pictured below)

• Twilight Primrose- Attracts bees and other beneficial insects. Perennial.

What we are growing in pots on our porch:

• Strawberries

• Beans

• Spinach

• Cherry Tomato

• Rosemary – deters fleas & ticks.

• Lavender- deters deer, moths, fleas, flies & mosquitos. Perennial herb.

• Sweet Mint- Deters deer, spiders, mosquitos, and ants. Perennial herb. It’s great for around your vegetable garden or on your patio. This herb is also invasive, so I recommend keeping it potted separately so it doesn’t take over.

• Sweet Marjoram- Perennial herb.

• Oregano- Perennial Herb.

• Marigolds- Attracts bees and other beneficial insects. Deters mosquitos and aphids. Annual flower.

Are you growing a vegetable garden this year? If so, did you have raised beds? I would love to see what you are growing no matter how small or extravagant. Tag @always_willow on Instagram. I plan to share a blog post mid-season to give an update on how everything is growing. If you have any questions you'd like me to answer in the post or tips to share feel free to send them in. I hope you found something to keep with you from Always Willow & don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss another post.

Always,

Erikka