Our 2018 Garden: Planting & Month One

We got the landscape fabric down, all the plants and seeds are in the ground, and our 2018 garden is looking great!

I feel like I say this all the time.. But where did the past few months go?! Seems like there was just snow on the ground and we dreaming of our summer garden, and now we’re about to begin harvesting vegetables and enjoying all our hard work.

This year, we decided to use landscaping fabric, and I’m pretty sure it’s the best decision we’ve ever made. The fabric is 4-foot wide and we put down 12 strips, with about a foot between each. On the fabric, we cut holes for plants we purchased, and in between the strips of fabric we planted rows of seeds, like kale, lettuce, and beans.

I also got a little creative, and decided to paint some rocks as our garden markers! We always have a MILLION rocks everywhere (we probably rake out a hundred each year from the garden), so this was an inexpensive, fun way to add some art to the garden.

In my last post about buying plants, I included a list of everything we were growing. We decided last minute to add some cabbage and cauliflower because we had room. I also got a few bok choy plants from a friend, so we are trying that for the first time, and the owner at Park Avenue Greenhouses gave me a candy cane pepper plant to try, which grow really cool looking small peppers (pictured below).

We spread the work out over a few days when we had time–one day Zack and I covered half of the garden with fabric, then another he finished it himself, then another I planted all the seeds, and then finally we all worked together to get the plants in the ground. It was actually better that way because we weren’t doing it all at once and getting exhausted.

For the carrots and the beets, we dug about a one-foot deep row, then mixed the soil with sand and added it back in. Our soil is pretty rocky, so hopefully this helps the root veggies grow better.

So far, we’ve had to do some weeding between the rows, but other than that, the fabric seems to be working great. The only thing I’m worried about is insects and slugs living underneath the fabric and getting to our plants, but it seems to be okay so far. It didn’t take long for seedlings to start to sprout and we had to be careful because it can be hard to differentiate between a weed and a seedling.

We’ve harvested a couple small onions, a few cucumbers, some yellow squash and zucchini, and a little bit of kale and lettuce. There are a ton of other veggies that will be ready soon, too, like broccoli, tomatoes, and peppers.

Before we know it, we’ll be overwhelmed with vegetables… I can’t wait! Happy gardening ♥

Pin this post: