The canvas

what we're working with

So here we are. Spring is just around the corner and we've found our yard to turn in to a delicious, beautiful garden.

In order to have the best garden we can imagine, we have to observe and understand different aspects of the space. Some important things to recognize about your space are where the warmest spots are, what sections get the most sun and where the wet spots are.

north side of yard

Knowing this will help you make important decisions when planting.

For example, in the garden we're attempting, we know there is a lot of sunlight hitting the North side of the yard. As the yard is beside a lane it is not blocked by a building so we can expect quite a bit of sunlight. There is a tree on the South side which Jess has informed me is not too leafy and shouldn't be the cause of too much shade. Previously there has been a vegetable garden in the back of the yard (the West side). The yard seems to have good drainage. Even after all the snow melt it is not too muddy and there are no pooled areas of water. As it's a fenced yard we don't expect too much wind that could damage our plants.

Now that we've considered the aspects of the space we need to utilize that information in the mapping process. This is one of my favourite parts of the 'starting-a-garden' process. Here is when we'll make our first attempt of deciding where we want certain plants. We know there is sun on the North side so we'll want to put our fruits and vegetables that really thrive in the warmth in that area. My initial thoughts for that area is corn, berries and grapes. I have also heard of growing pole beans that climb the corn stalks, which I'd really love to see happen.

To the left is my first attempt at a map.

Now we can start to decide (if we haven't already) what type of seeds we'll use. We'll also have to decide if we want to use raised beds. This will cost more but could be beneficial considering we didn't mulch the soil in the fall to kill the grass and could be used to keep certain plants living longer in the fall (I'm thinking mini greenhouses.)


So here we go! We're one step closer to our delicious summer garden! Coming up: Raised beds, herb spirals, compost piles and much more!!!