Hello! Jay and I love eating fresh as often as possible. We buy most of our items fresh when we cook. Last year, we had a small herb garden with three different types of basil and okra. One of the plants was sweet basil and it felt so great to go outside, tear a few leaves off, wash them, and throw them into the pan. This year, we wanted to step up our game and have a bigger garden.

Before I get too deep into it, let’s be clear on something. We are not a gardening experts (obviously). We haven’t meticulously planned it out, but have a general idea in mind. Now that we got that out of the way, let’s begin.

Step 1 

We covered an area of our yard that gets mostly sun with a black plastic sheeting (tarp). I had to move it around a few times to make sure the area it covered gets full sun. We encountered a problem with the tarp. I placed big rocks on it, and other heavy objects, but the tarp kept blowing away. So we moved more items onto the tarp, so it wouldn’t blow away. I realize that it looks very “red-neck”, but I can assure you our necks are not red at all.

I’ve looked under the tarp like once a week for about two months, to see if the grass had died yet. It was a long a tedious process. I finally just left it and forgot about it until our schedules cleared up and we could do something about it.

Step 2

Once the grass is dead, take the tarp off. Here is what it looks like without the tarp. I got lazy and tired of recovering it everyday to make sure it stayed down, so there is a small patch of grass. We have two Great Pyrenees beautiful dogs that love to tear up everything in site. They enjoyed stepping on, chewing, and playing with the tarp quite often.

Step 3

It’s ready to make rows. We have an awesome neighbor that owns a tractor and is so very nice to let us use it. (Thanks, Mr. Raymond!!) It was the first time Jay ever made rows with a tractor. Mr. Raymond showed him how to make rows. He did half and Jay did half.

Step 4

Pack the rows. This was our first time to do rows with a tractor. Mr. Raymond advised that we pack and form the rows with a hoe. I looked everywhere for the hoe that I thought we had, but had no luck finding it. I used a drain spade that we had to see if that would do the trick. I had better luck just using my muck boots to form the rows. I just stepped on each side, with my boot at a 45 degree angle, then packed the top.  I’ve tried other less expensive boots to do outside work, and these are the absolute 100% most comfortable boots. They are worth the price.

The above picture is two rows packed and formed. Luke, our fluffy (so soft) best kitty is being the overseer.

Step 5

Buy plants. We went to a local gardening center called The Produce Shed. We love working with local, family-owned and operated stores. Big box stores just don’t meet the customer service standard we like. The owner was very friendly and even helped us gather our plants. There was a sale on peppers, and we got a great deal on them. Here is a list of what plants we purchased:

Quantity          Name of Plant

2                        Summer Set Tomatoes

2                        Solar Fire Tomatoes

4                        Better Boy Tomatoes

2                        Cherokee Purple Tomatoes

2                        Big Beef Tomatoes

4                        Black Beauty Eggplant

3                        Eggplant Fairytale

8                        Sport Peppers: “Great for Chicago Dogs”

3                        Valencia Orange Peppers (bell pepper)

7                         Serano Peppers

2                         Poblano Peppers

13                       Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers

11                       Super Chili Peppers

12                       Habanero Peppers

1                        California Wonder Pepper (bell pepper)

2                        Big Bertha Peppers (bell pepper)

7                        Tabasco Peppers

18                      Okra

2                       Pumpkin

6                       Watermelon

We got a total of 138 plants. The okra and watermelon were in the little six pack containers, so there were between one and four plants in each. We paid $113.22. We also got tomato stakes and twine for $11.50 at Shell-Ross (another local nursery). We spent a total of $124.72. Like I said, the peppers were on sale. God completely gave us a gift!

Step 6

The next step is to plant (obviously). With 138 plants, this was a daunting task. But with 5 bottles of water, a wet towel, and five hours later (or so), the planting was done! I used a trowel to dig the holes for each 138 plants. Did I mention it was 138 plants? The tool was a lifesaver, though. It was great for digging the perfect size hole for these plants. I didn’t add any extra soil or anything. I am trusting God will take care of it. After all, isn’t how our ancestors before us did it?

Above is a picture of Jay (my hunny bunny) hammering in stakes.

The tomato plants are finished. The first row of three and a half pepper rows are being laid out. This row also includes six Eggplant plants.

Peppers are in! Pumpkins and watermelons are in the ground. Now, laying out the okra to plant.

Above the picture shows the pumpkin, watermelon, and okra plants in the ground.

Laying out the next two rows of peppers.

Is anyone else’s back hurting? Or just mine?

Step 7

God sent the rain for us. Thank you, Father! Now we wait and pray that our harvest be plentiful!