The Fenced Garden - Year 1

Mar 18, 2024

This is the fenced-in garden in August 2022, before any work had been done. The previous homeowners had definitely given up on it, and aside from some potatoes, poppies, and artichoke, everything else was weeds.

All thanks go to Mom for ripping out every single weed she could get her hands on, while Dad and I worked on the house. She had the very best assistant and companion for the day while my nephew was in town. They worked so well together and got so much work done, and thanks to them I had a garden my first season here.

We mulched heavily around the artichoke and used some chicken wire from the barn and rocks to hold it in place. Seeing the beds and pathways reveal themselves after all of the weed pulling was a great moment.

Look at the gorgeous dark, rich soil! We laid out cardboard on the paths already established, and Mom collected many wheelbarrows full of fallen pine needles from the front of the property to lay on the cardboard. We also took a day trip to Port Angeles to visit a long-time family friend, who gifted me a couple of her glorious homegrown garlic bulbs. I planted those in the bed next to the artichoke.

The pine needles on the pathways with clippings from the Douglas fir trees for the beds and they're ready for winter. Because I wasn't yet fully moved in up here and still had my in-person job back home, I would be away for a few months and would miss half of the winter season.

End of March 2023, after returning from months away, I removed the Douglas fir frost covers, pulled up weeds, and started planting for spring. Using the pine needles was a great idea for the first year because the pine tree needed to be dug out from the many layers at its base, and it worked well on the garden paths. Moving forward, if I use pine needles again, I will use them as an underlayer and mulch with wood chips on top, like I did this current season. Sitting on and working around old, dried-out pine needles is prickly and not very comfortable to work with.

I was only here for a short time before heading back down south for another couple of months of work so I planted and weeded and hoped for the best.

It's May and I'm now full-time at the house, and this is the garden I came back to. The cardboard and pine needles did a good job of keeping the grass and weeds down, and through the weeds, my seeds are growing well!