Yard to Table

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Most of you know the slogan Farm to Table, but in my case its Yard to Table. It is really important to me to support local farms by buying their produce and also knowing the quality of food I am eating. In addition to supporting local farms, its fun, cost effective, and environmentally friendly to also grow your own produce. I am really excited to grow my own organic veggies again for the second year in a row. The first year was a learning experience that actually turned out to be a positive and productive one. I grew some patio tomatoes, which are generally smaller than the big juicy jersey tomatoes we are used to, as well as some jalapenos and bell peppers. I never had my own veggie garden before so I wanted to start out small and gradually take on more in the years to come. Not to mention, veggie gardening can be expensive to get started, so I didn’t want to buy a bunch of plants and not know what I was doing. I had a massive abundance of jalapeno peppers that I was actually able to save by washing and freezing them; after 9-10 months I still have some in my freezer. Since I have 2 fur babies, one of which is a male who likes to mark everything in our yard with his pee, in addition to a large family of bunnies that inhabited in the yard as well, planting veggies did present a bit of a challenge. Last year, I bought some small garden boxes on wheels that I was able to move around in order to avoid them being pee targets or resulting in stolen/half eaten vegetables. That plan worked for a majority of the summer until I went on vacation. When I came back half the tomatoes were eaten or had rotted from not being watered. In any case, I got enough of what I needed from them at that point in time.

This year, I found a better solution. I convinced hubby to “help” me build a few 3 ft tall garden boxes. As you see, I emphasized on the help part because in reality he did most of the work and I helped him. With just about any DIY projects I come up with he usually does all the work while I assist when needed. Its not that I don’t want to do it, but I’m pretty much banned from all power tools or anything that could potentially hurt him or myself <haha>. Anyway, this past weekend we completed two boxes, which I might add was a lot of work, but definitely worth it. Once they were ready I planted a few tomato plants, I intend to add a variety of peppers along with my favorite…..zucchini within the next few weeks.

I can’t wait to share updates on the progress of my garden this year as well as some healthy and canning recipes for unused vegetables.

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1 Comment

  • Bob A April 18, 2016 at 4:13 pm

    Looks good, nice idea did you allow for drainage through the bottom?

    Reply

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