Backyard Vegetable Gardening

After two years of fairly successful Backyard Vegetable Gardening, I decided to jot down our gardening journey this year. We are still rookie in this line and still learning from our mistakes. This yearly, hopefully we will do better than last year and with that thought in our mind, we planted the seeds roughly three weeks back.

We always wanted to grow our own produce, nothing too exotic, just a few basic vegetables and herbs. But somehow for several years I couldn't even succeed in keeping house plant alive, let alone vegetables or herbs.

Backyard Vegetable Gardening - How it all started ?

It was back in 2019 when I started to get a little better at not overwatering the houseplants, and today we have quite a few healthy, happy indoor plants.

In 2020, we moved to a single family rented house and the best part was the backyard. Bigger than we ever had, and it gets enough sunlight though out the day. The first thing that came in my mind was to try to plant some produce and herbs.

Instead of buying pots, we decided to go with garden beds. DIY garden beds to be specific. We made 3 garden beds, and each garden bed costs us less than $10 and very little effort to put together. 3 years now and those garden beds are still standing strong.

Considering how the price of wood has shot up in the last couple of years, it might cost you more than $10, but it will still be much cheaper than buying a premade garden bed.

WATCH THE GARDENING VLOG

DIY Garden Beds for Backyard Vegetable Gardening

We wanted to keep our backyard vegeatble gardening hastle free and definitely in low budget since this is a rented house. So we decided to go with DIY Garden Beds.

For each garden beds, we had bought 3 wooden planks, a little more than 5 feet each. We got it from Home Depot and each wooden plank costs us $3 and few cents. I can't exactly remember the price, but it was quite cheap.

We got one of the wooden planks out of the 3 cut in half. And then Arvind just screwed the ends to create a rectangular box. The bottom is kept uncovered as we kept it on a muddy, non-grassy area. So far we didn't have any problem of weeds growing in the bed.

The first year we had 2 garden beds and added one more last year. This year, we didn't want to add anymore. Just bought few pots for flowers and herbs.

What kind of soil to use in garden bed?

We bought organic soil from Costco that is meant for garden beds/raised bed.

The first year we definitely had to buy several bags. The second year and this year, we just mixed the old soil with some fresh and also added some plant food.

Seeds we planted this year - Backyard Vegetable Gardening

This year we did some research on what plant pairs the best together. We have three garden beds, and we dedicate the garden beds for vegetables only.

The first couple years we planted three in one bed, and later it got a little too crowded. This year we decided to go with two produce each garden.

GARDEN BED 1: Zucchini and Sweet Peas

GARDEN BED 2: Corn and Beans

GARDEN BED 3: Tomatoes and Bell Peppers

Sweet Peas don't last for too long. Once the weather gets warm, it will start to dry out. We have decided to clean that area once that happens and probably plant some seeds for Fall.

Did you use Seedling Pots?

I would highly recommend using seedling pots to germinate the seeds, but we forget every year. We land up planting the seeds straight in the garden beds.

We divide multiple sections and plant 2 or 3 seeds in each whole.

Covering the Garden Beds

The first year, we didn't worry about covering our garden beds at all, and it did fine. But then from the next year we started to notice squirrels and birds would dig the bed and eat seeds.

To be on the safer side, we started to cover the garden bed with a bird net until it germinates.

Once the seeds germinate and starts growing, we raise the bird net and support it with some sticks all around.

We water twice a day unless it's cloudy and the soil feels moist. It has been two weeks or so and as you can see in the video, seeds started to germinate. It's such a happy feeling to see the seeds coming to life.

I will keep you guys updated on our garden story with more photos and videos, and it grows and turns that corner into a luscious, beautiful green zone.