My Garden

I turned this pile of pallets:

Into this:

...and couldn't be happier. I spent hours of planning and day dreaming for this garden throughout the winter. Originally I had plans drawn up for a beautiful wood fence around the garden and garden boxes. Then reality set in regarding the cost of such a beautiful design. So, it was time to get inventive and revise my plans. My stepdad, Mark had a ton of old pallets from work. He and my mom brought a couple trucks full of pallets over to me and I got busy. 

I took an unused, weed filled, eyesore behind our garage and turned it into our family garden. It took just over a month, start to finish. It all started with cutting down a wild growing tree that shaded the area. The tree was pretty tall so it needed to be cut down in chunks and what better place to start than on the roof.

Meanwhile, we started some seeds inside:

 Fence to keep the dogs out and clear all the weeds:

The building begins. I spend time afterwork and on weekends measuring, sawing, and assembling. In case you didn't know, I love power tools.

Inside, our seeds had sprouted, were transplanted into cups and were doing well.

After the garden boxes were all assembled, I added landscape fabric on the bottom (to block weeds) and added some support posts.

 I got the idea to line the inside with some paper grocery bags online, it keeps the soil from falling out through the slats.

Next step was having soil delivered. This is the first of two truck loads full and the task of filling the garden boxes seemed never ending!

Our seedlings were getting huge, and ready for transplanting by this time

As I was building the trellises I looked back into my yard and it looked like a secret garden behind my rickety old fence.

 I had kept some of the long branches from the tree I cut down to make a teepee trellis for the peas.

It felt amazing to get it all planted. I absolutely love my garden and we've already gotten a handfull of ripe strawberries.

I will keep you updated throughout the summer. This is what's currently planted:

Veggies

• Corn
• Yellow Bell Peppers
• Zucchini
• Kale
• Cabbage
• Eggplant
• Cauliflower
• Brocoli
• Leeks
• Red Onion
• White Onion
• Garlic
• Tomatos - 8 varieties 
• Banana Peppers
• Sweet Peppers
• Radish
• Peas
• Carrots
• Cucumber - 2 varieties 
• Watermelon
• Cantaloupe
• Honeydew
• Pumpkins
• White Pumpkins
• Gourds
• Spagetti Squash
• Potatoes - 2 varieties

Herbs

• Chives
• Mint
• Chamomile
• Basil
• Parsley
• Cilantro

Edible Flowers

• Nasturtiums
• Pansies

Fruits

• Strawberries
• Apple Tree 
• Cherrie Trees
• Plum Tree

(the trees were already planted when we bought our house 5 years ago)