Our new garden

Some of you may remember that last summer we started a .25 acre garden, which my husband was hoping to develop into a CSA garden box program (community supported agriculture). The land we were using was about a 5-10 minute drive away, and after some backbreaking labour tilling it up and planting some food in the fall, the program fell through and we no longer had access to the land.

Over winter, we were left with a garage packed with about 50 bags of top soil, a tiller, buckets of compost, etc. We were at a bit of an impasse about what to do next. We had a chance to use a few other properties, but at the end of the day it was just not practical. I knew with my full-time job and our young kids, I wouldn’t be able to help with the weeding, etc.

So after writing to our strata for permission, we built a 4×11 foot raised bed in the yard. Since it was sunny and over 20 degrees Celcius behind our house all weekend, we quickly finished it up and planted quite a few early seeds. I’m excited to be able to have it so close by that I can help with the watering and weeding, and grab whatever we need for salads, etc. right outside the door. We’re excited to see how well this goes. I also am going to try some tomatoes that grow well in hanging baskets in the front.

So we said farewell to the rototiller, the soil, the compost and are reclaiming our garage. We also had to say farewell to the idea of making growing food into a business for now. Can’t wait to finish the next project, which will be a neat bench and hook area for our kids to take off their many shoes and coats with all this new-found space.