What we have learned from our first failed garden

Deciding to plant a garden was one of the first steps we took towards becoming more self-sufficient.  It is one of the easiest ways to start.  All you need is dirt, seeds, water, and somewhere to put it.  If you don’t have a lot of land, you can garden in pots.  Our first garden has failed in giving us veggies for the entire winter.  We were left with a completely barren garden.  We had some fresh veggies to eat on, but nothing like what we were expecting/hoping for.  And the radishes were inedible for us (so strong), but they did fantastic.  But we have learned from our mistakes and are working for solutions. 

• Prepare the ground better – poor Aaron went over the ground several times, but it just wasn’t enough for our root veggies that need to grow.  We are planning on investing in a larger machine that will help him toil the soil better.   

• Didn’t plant early enough – we thought we were being so smart, saving money buying from seed catalogs.  We planted about 1 ½ months later than we should have.  Our potatoes didn’t have any real chance to grow because of when we planted them.  And then the rain started and didn’t stop.   
• Didn’t define the garden edges well – when the grass started to grow, when it was raining every single day it became difficult to tell where our crops were under the tall grass.  My plan (not ingenious at all, but it will work) is to take large round straight sticks and maybe small trees from the woods around our house and lay them around the garden.  Someone would have to walk up to our garden to even see it, so while it won’t be pretty, it will be cheap and easy.  If you want pretty, pavers or treated wood would make a good edger for a garden.  I just want new potatoes, the garden doesn’t have to pretty. 
• Rain, rain, rain – there isn’t much we can do about this but it definitely hindered our garden.  It was never dry enough and everything was waterlogged.  We chose a large flattish area of our yard at the top of a hill.  We thought it would be great for drainage, but we just had so much rain.  We are still working on a solution to this.   
• Deer – our local wildlife was probably our biggest issue.  They ate all my beans, the tops of every Jerusalem artichoke, and the tops off our first sunflowers.  Irish Spring soap didn’t work at all.  The motion detecting flashing red light didn’t work.  We sighed in frustration because the only solution we had at the time was to sit in the garden 24/7.  But through the frustration and much research, Aaron has found a possible solution to our issues.  A motion detecting water sprinkler system.  We are hoping that this is going to fix our issue, but this is the plan for next year.