This Is How We're Growing Our Own Food Now | Phase 2

We are ready to get started on the next step of our garden today. We have already prepared the place where the garden will be. It's going to be a little bigger than this, but I decided to reel myself in a little and say, okay, you know what? You don't have to actually do it all at once. I've got the bulk of the vision, but I can, I can say this is good. I will lay more later because there is a fall planting season. So I've missed some things this spring like carrots and lettuce, but I can plant those in the fall. Um, so I'm gonna, guys, this is growth for me. I'm like an all or nothing person. So to recognize that actually we can babysit this thing is beautiful. So, and you have to, if you've gardened, you know that it does not come quick. It takes time and work. And there's a lot of like, wait, do a little bit and then wait. And then, um, I think it's, yeah, I'm learning some lessons here. So this is all ready. What we did was we laid cardboard everywhere. We covered it in wood chips. Um, I made a whole separate video explaining why we did that. You guys can go check it out. We'll link it here. Um, but now we're ready for the next step, which is putting together our raised beds. So I'm going for a combination of raised beds and in-ground planting. Uh, we've got some really beautiful metal beds that were sent to us by this company called VeggieGo. And I got to put these things together, but I'm hoping it will help even more with the elimination of weeds, keeping this process as simple as possible. Uh, and I've got my little helper here, right, Israel? Are you ready to get started? Yes. Good. I got my cardboard today and I'll open all of these boxes. I'm just taking the packages out. Thank you so much. You're so good at this. One thing that is so important to me in this entire process of learning how to garden is bringing my children alongside me and teaching them. The whole purpose for me is not just to grow our own food and support our family that way, but it was to acquire the knowledge and the skills to plant and grow and harvest our own food to pass it down to our children so that they can pass it down to their children. I realized that like my grandma had a massive garden and her mom before her and her mom before her and her mom before her, but it stopped along the line. I want to be able to continue to pass that down. I really think not only is it important to know how to provide our own food in case things happen in the world, like Great Depression is a great example. People survived based off of their ability to grow their own food or survive more easily, I'll say, but even if that doesn't happen in our generation, it may happen in our children's or in their children's. So if we're not equipping them with these skills and knowledge, then they're going to struggle during those times. So it's really, I find, I really feel like it's our job as parents to make sure our children are equipped, even with the very basics. But even beyond that, I am already finding that there are so many life lessons that God has for us through the process of gardening. Even if you look at the scripture, there are so many parables that talk about seed planting and harvest, but even for myself, I'm finding that I'm already learning a lot about patience and delayed gratification and hard work, even when you don't feel like it, even when you don't see results. So I think it's just a really beautiful thing to get kids involved in so that they can learn those lessons at a young age, because I think it'll set them up for success in general. So Israel is hard at work already, unboxing all of our garden beds. These things are going to be so cool, and I think just so pretty. So what I got from Veggiega was six four by eight foot garden beds. They're 17 inches deep, and then I got six two by eight foot garden beds that are also 17 inches deep. The cool thing about these is that they are completely modular. There are so many ways, and I didn't even realize it till I came, and it said 10 in one or nine in one garden bed, but you can actually set these things up in so many different ways. We've got a lot of work to do. Are you ready? All right. Let's start with one, I guess. I'm going to take a piece of cardboard to sit on. Do you want one? Piece of what? You've got long pants. I think you're all right. Like a bench. I need a garden bench, Johnny. You got the tool that we need? Yes. Okay. I might need more children, John. Not to have more children, but I might need more than what I already do have. Hey, you're just in time. Do you want to help us in the garden? Today, I do need a trash bag. It's a garden bed. Here's the nut. Nut. Why are them called nuts? Great question. No idea. The other way. Twist. Other way. You want me to get it started? I know you can do it. Yeah, there you go. We did it. I can already see that this is going to take 87 years in the best way, right? All right. This was half a day's worth of work, and I'm not even done. I'm probably halfway done with the beds, but I'm really excited. I realized that I underestimated my space, and so we got a couple options here. One, I can move this down and then do some long rows for my raspberries and blackberries that I have here. I was originally going to put them on the other end, or I can get one more of these four by eights and two more of these two by fours and do just another arch way, which I wouldn't mind because honestly, we were on cucumbers on those. We'll I'd love to grow some beans and some butternut squash, and so I wouldn't be mad about having four instead of three so I could grow cucumbers on two of them because my kids will eat cucumbers like crazy, and I'd love to make pickles, but those are the options right now. The back ones, I still have not set up, so this will hopefully be filled. If not, that'll be here, and there'll be two rows of berries going along that way. Then I have two more beds here that, to be honest, are only as long as this. There's going to be a pretty big gap here, and then we have a really long, really long situation there, which I don't think is going to work because the ground's not exactly level, and I think it's just too long for that. So I am going to see if I can get a couple more of the corner pieces so I can break that up into at least two, but maybe three sections back there, which that would probably be the best idea is breaking that into three sections and then having two here, table in the middle. I love it. I'm like picturing it as I'm saying it, and I am, I'm loving it. Okay, I think I have a new plan. I think talk, I think talking to you guys has really helped me figure this out, but, but I would love to hear your ideas in the comments. You see what I'm working with, you see the situation, what do you guys think I should do, and all right. Also, I have grapes to plant. I got blackberries, raspberries, grapes, all just waiting for home, so gonna get busy. See you guys tomorrow. Okay, so I think I've got everything where I want it. I spent some time yesterday using the tape measure, measuring distances. We tried two feet apart, which I liked because I think I could fit more in here, but when I think about if I want to grow any zucchini or squash or anything that has like really big leaves, that two foot felt like it might be a little crowded, so we moved them apart. They're three feet here. This is my compromise for now until I can get more of this size bed, but what we will have is a an arch trellis from here to here. Another one of these will eventually go right here, so then we'll have another arch trellis, so you'll be able to walk straight through that way, and then this gap is a little bit wider because this is kind of like the main entrance, if you will. I want to build a table right here, like a long kind of narrow but long table with benches. I'd like to do two small beds on either side of it, and then that is all to be determined. I'd like to do some lower like really long beds, but I'm not totally sure yet. We might just do the mounds because again you got to work with what you have. Right now I don't have more garden beds, so I may just build up some mounds and plant my tomatoes there and steak down, which honestly, John, I would probably don't really want to put t-posts through the cardboard because there's weeds. I'm telling you, they will be like, oh there's a little hole. Let me just wiggle up in there, so I might just make it go all the way to the ends. And then do wire and do tomatoes that way. That way they can grow up so we can plant a lot of tomatoes. I really need to get some seeds going. Anyway, so the goal is in the next just couple days to have these beds filled. Right now I'm going to go over here. I did this to the first one already. John graciously put all of the support braces in. These are really cool because they keep them from like going in or out. They screw on, so it's like really secure. So it's nice because when the dirt comes in, it can't push out. Like these don't pop off. They're screwed on, so it can't push out. So it's going to hold them really nicely. But over here, I tipped this bed over and I put more cardboard under it. I just wanted a double layer. All of the walkways will end up getting more mulch added to them every year, so that should help suppress the weeds. But I really want to make sure nothing can come up through these beds, so I went ahead and moved the mulch out of the way, added another layer of cardboard, and then added some mulch back to it. I'm just doing a really light layer because these are very fresh wood chips, so they will steal a lot of nitrogen. You don't want these touching the roots of your plants. That's why it's at the very bottom. And then I'm going to layer other things, different carbons, to help before to help fill up space before I actually add the soil that we got. So I'm gonna get started. My compost that I was working so hard to make over there, I'm using and it's not really done, but I realize this is better than... Don't want that. Don't worry about that poop that I'm touching. Like I'd probably rather fill in some of the gaps at the very bottom with this. So today we have been out here in the garden trying to get this thing progressing, moving forward. The other day I picked up a bunch of dirt on this big trailer here and went and got the tractor from my father-in-law's, and I spent the day today helping get all that dirt, moving it to this pile so that Danielle can fill the beds with this. She's putting the sticks and compost in there. So yeah, so we finally got that done, but we might be getting some leaf mulch and stuff here in the next little bit to really solidify these garden beds. But you know what? Here's the thing. Today as I was unloading this dirt and Danielle's looking at it and she's seeing it's not the best topsoil that, you know, we could get. I was thinking earlier about incorporating, you know, God into everything we're doing and prayer into everything we're doing and to not let it be just a thing that like I wake up in the morning and read my Bible or, you know, do my devotion and then move on with my day. It's something that we carry on through the day with us and so that thought kind of came to mind as we're talking about this dirt. And so just I was thinking, you know what? Like God, bless this dirt. It's what we got. It's what we have right now. It's what we can, what we have to work with. Bless it and just see our hard work that we're putting into this and allow this to be fruitful and allow us to have a great abundance of vegetables and fruit. That's kind of the mindset that we are adopting, that we're going to just give to God what we have and let Him bless it. All right, another day, another few steps closer. Let me show you where we're at. I have started filling two on the ends. I'm going to need, I think I'm going to get some compost to mix and add. I have some bags but it's not going to be enough. This one has mulch down, it has the wood down, and then in it I put some of the like wood chips that started decomposing from our compost pile, which also has like leaves and some decomposing plant material, some chicken litter, stuff like that in it. That's going to go pretty low under where the actual compost and soil will be, so the plant roots shouldn't touch that. Same thing here, this one's just got the wood in it, more wood, more wood. I haven't gotten to this bed, this bed, or that other really big one, but I have all these gigantic logs that I will be using to fill those. I'm in the process of filling this one, it needs a little bit more. The goal here is to take up space with things that will decompose over time, so in the next year or two years that will all break down into dirt, and then we'll just have to add more more soil to the top of our beds. But this will save us money up front, it'll feed the soil, all these sticks will give room for the soil to breathe, because believe it or not, your plant's roots like to breathe. They don't want to be suffocated, they don't want to be suffocated in really compacted soil, so that will help with that. But we do it in layers, and so there are fresh wood chips in the bottom of these, but they're so low and there's so much in between that the roots won't touch it, so it shouldn't be an issue with stealing nitrogen or anything. I may take our little mower around and bag up some grass clippings just to sprinkle in, because when you add that nitrogen to the carbon, it helps the carbon break down, gives it what it needs without it competing with the plants. So anyway, this is where I'm leaving off for today, getting there. It is a labor of love for sure. I'm questioning whether I bit off more than I could chew, questioning my sanity a little bit. I still have so many more things to do outside of this. I still have raspberries and blackberries to plant and build trellises for. So one day at a time, I'm learning so many lessons, I told you guys that already. All right, going inside. I'm gonna clean up, get settled in for the night, and be back out here tomorrow. I am so excited to have raised beds this year. The very first garden I started here was with raised beds that I had built with just like 10 inch boards, so they were probably only up to here. By the end of the first year, the soil that I had paid for bags and bags of like really nice expensive organic soil was almost completely gone, and the weeds were taking over. So with this system, with the cardboard down, the wood chips, and then the logs beneath it, and the wood mulch, and the topsoil, I am not anticipating an issue with weeds for a while. And even then, from what I have seen in raised beds, especially deeper ones like this, the weeding is very minimal. You'll have like a few that may grow in it, and you just scoop them right out. Way, way more simple, way less time consuming than weeds taking over. And I know some people don't mind the weeds in the garden because they will just mow or cut them down and allow it to be living mulch. I think that is amazing. Anytime you're feeding into the soil biology and adding new carbon, new nitrogen, creating things that will decompose together and break down and feed that soil, you are sowing into better soil and ultimately better, a better garden, better produce, a better harvest. So I want to say thank you to Vejiga. This video is not sponsored, but they did gift us these garden beds to try out. I love them. They have several colors that are all really beautiful. I went with the cream because I'm like a basic girl, but it has this rubber stripping around the top, which is awesome because it's safe for the kids. There's nothing sharp on it. They were really simple to put together. I know they're going to hold up really well. They come in different depths too. You can get an, I think 11 inch, 17, or they even have one that's deeper for those root vegetables or to put around trees. You can customize the shapes and sizes of these things, like any way you can dream it. And so if you guys are looking to start a raised bed garden, you can use our code and get a discount. I will put it in the description for you. So I will say, um, raised beds weren't in my original picture for this. I did not have plans to purchase any this year, although it is the ideal for me because again, the lack of weeding and the, it's a little bit closer, easier to bend, you know, even just to squat and be planting right here instead of like on your knees leaning forward. Uh, I love so much about it. I also just think it creates this beautiful space where you can map it out and have these walkways and trellises. This one is going to have a trellis over it. But if you are not in a season where raised beds are in your budget or your means, it is totally fine and great to build a garden in very much the same way from the ground. If we had not been gifted these, I would have started with the same foundation, which would be the cardboard base everywhere, the wood chips everywhere. And then I would have divided these wood chips in two rows because these are arborist chips. These are arborist chips. They are incredibly fresh. They're like maybe a month old. They are still in the very, very early stages of decomposing and they would be too hot to put in direct contact with your fruits and vegetables. When the roots touch this carbon, it will steal nitrogen from the plants. Now they are in the very base of these below anything the roots are going to touch. So I'm not worried about that. But if I was going to plant on the ground without raised beds, I would use these free arborist chips as walkways. And in between I would go to a local distributor where they have soil and mulch, and I would get some mulch compost and put that down in the rows where you want to be planting. On top of that mulch compost, you can add soil. And then on top of that, you can use leaf mulch or compost, compost and leaf mulch. And you're basically going to be building up your planting area in mounds, in rows. That's what we would have done here had we not gotten the raised beds. It's going to work the same. You're going to be feeding into that soil as the cardboard breaks down over the next year. That good rich soil you're building on top is going to make contact with the ground and start to feed healthy organisms and bacteria to and from the ground to the soil on top. So then every year, as your fresh wood chips are breaking down, you can just scooch those up onto your mounds from the previous year and then add new fresh wood chips in your walkways. That's going to help suppress the weeds. It's going to feed and continue to feed into your planting areas. And you're going to have the same microbiome, if you will, to feed and nourish your crops and your garden to give you the best possible outcome. So that's kind of the goal in growing a garden is to maximize the harvest by working smarter, I guess, not harder. You know, what can we input on the front end to make sure that all of our effort and time and money is not in vain, that we are getting as much possible out of it. And one of those, probably the top tip for that is to feed the soil and make sure you are starting with the healthiest soil that you possibly can. And it doesn't have to be perfect because the first topsoil we got over there is a lot clumpier, a lot more clay. And it was double the price of one of the local places here where they had this nice, fine topsoil. So it's kind of one of those things where you learn as you go and you make mistakes along the way and then you know better for next time. Every time you cut something down and throw it in or compost it year after year, you are going to be feeding that soil and making it better and better. It's just a slow process as gardening seems to be. If you will embrace the life lessons in it, you'll find that there's a lot of beauty in the waiting, in the sowing and watering and waiting.