Everyone Can Garden!

0

I love to read. One of my favorite things about reading is when a book changes me in some way. A couple of years ago I read a book that influenced my thinking and introduced our family to gardening.

Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv is easily in my top three of most influential books in my life. In this book Louv references the concept of Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. I had never heard of this before and my interest was piqued.

We live in a small house, with a small backyard to match. Having a family garden had been a dream, but for when we one day moved to a larger house. However, the square foot gardening concept changed that! Of course I googled “square foot gardening” to learn more, and from that moment on I was hooked. People all over the world in all kinds of circumstances had gardens! It was amazing to see! I ended up staying up reading all about it until 3:00 a.m.. Then at 8:00 a.m. I hopped out of bed, loaded the boys in the van, and we went to Lowe’s to purchase materials to make our very own square foot garden.

Ok, so let’s back up a minute. What is square foot gardening (SFG)? SFG is a space-saving concept originally created by Mel Bartholomew, an engineer, to help everyone enjoy maximum gardening benefits. In fact, it was so successful that he took the idea to people in impoverished countries so that they could grow their own food, despite their living conditions. It is also a popular gardening method for schools. You get a box, typically 4-feet by 4-feet and create a grid of 1-foot by 1-foot squares and plant various plants in each square foot space.

There are all kinds of SFG kits available online; however, a lot of them are pricey. I decided it would be easy enough to build our own box and save some money. After all, isn’t the point of growing food to help you eat healthier for less money?

So there we were in Lowe’s — me, my 4-year-old boy and my 20-month-old boy. I decided to purchase four 6-foot cedar planks and a 2 x 4 for reinforcement. I think it was $16 total. We then went to our local garden shop where the owner supplied us with various seedlings for just $2 total!

Visiting one of our favorite places, Green Up Garden Shop in Leeds, AL

We came home and got out my husband’s hand saw and started cutting the 6-foot boards down to 4 feet. My boys thought it was the best thing in the whole world to use Daddy’s saw. Also, thankfully, the cedar planks weren’t too thick so they were easy to cut through. My husband later asked why I hadn’t used his circular saw. Uhhh, we have one of those?! Oh well! 

29CF0DE6-766A-43E1-8825-0640154B3C7F
B6961F6A-43B5-4155-9522-030D0ECE201F
EF8D981A-C6BA-4D17-9E9B-792432D2316D

After sawing, we nailed the pieces together, which was also great fun for little boys, and we had our box. My husband, thankfully, suggested we staple weed barrier to the bottom of the box. We then filled it with dirt, created a grid with twine, and planted our seedlings. It had been a family project, and one we were all very excited about. 

7C5A0946-513C-4F69-AC98-16883DAA0A32
EC2E2E88-D77F-4221-838D-F985B67B1353
32938DBC-D293-40A2-8784-D414A264FE9B

It was late June when we did this — way late in the season, and probably one reason we got such a deal on plants. But that summer, it was amazing to watch our garden grow.

We all loved caring for it, from watering to harvesting. Not everything grew well. Our tomatoes did not produce much, and what did come was quickly eaten by birds and squirrels, but we learned so much that first summer.

E0DC0F17-54A9-4990-B90C-D1FE006D663F
30150C63-CFBB-469F-AACB-66DBAA648190

The next summer, since we had some experience to our names, we decided to add two more smaller boxes and lots of pots. It really is incredible to see how our garden has grown in such a short amount of time and to think about all we’ve learned about plants and bugs.

Our 2017 garden in springtime
Our 2017 garden had progressed a lot by mid-summer

Growing a garden using the SFG concept is really easy. Of course it takes attention, you have to water every day, prune and harvest often (daily towards the end of summer), and be on the lookout for pests. But it is so rewarding. I would say you could spend 5-10 minutes in the morning tending your garden and 5-10 minutes in the evening and be very successful.

We have loved our experience with gardening so much and love to share the idea with others. We’d love for everyone to know that it is possible to have a garden of your own, despite space or time constraints. It is our most fulfilling and rewarding hobby and something that our whole family cares about. My husband even started talking about this year’s summer garden plans this past winter. It is fun to all contribute our dreams and ideas. If gardening is something you’ve wondered about or considered I would encourage you to go for it! Not everything you do will be a success, but that is okay. It is something you can learn about and improve upon for the future.

If you want to follow our family’s gardening experience, then follow me on Instagram at @wilderfam09 or you can follow the hashtag #WilderFamGardens. I would love to connect with you and follow your gardening journey also!

Previous articleThe Liberation of an Advice-Giver
Next article5 Ways To Support Your Adoptive Mom Friend (Post-Adoption)
Laura W
Meet Laura Wilder. Yes, like the author! In fact, her grandparents purchased the box set of Little House on the Prairie books for her when she was just 9-years-old, long before her last name became Wilder. She’s married to Andrew and they have three children, Anderson (7), Calvin (4.5) & Betsie (infant). They live in Leeds and she stays at home and homeschools following the Charlotte Mason (CM) philosophy. The CM philosophy emphasizes a lot of time spent in nature, which is wonderful because two of their family’s favorite hobbies are hiking & gardening! She loves to connect on Instagram. Find her @wilderfam09.