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There is something so lovely about a garden. It’s relaxing and peaceful, but it’s also a lot of hard work! I’m such a garden geek- I go check on my garden every morning to see what has grown, what’s blooming, and I love to watch my fruits/veggies as they develop. Watching each flower turn into something edible is like watching a miracle unfold right before my eyes. I feel closer to God when I’m outside and so many times He reveals a marvelous morsel of HIS TRUTH in those solitary moments outdoors. Of course, harvesting your own food makes the meal that much sweeter!

This is the biggest garden our little family has ever attempted to grow on our own. I’ve gardened for many years with my Papa and my Dad. I’ve grown a small garden in our backyard for the past 4 years. This garden is 36 feet by 40 feet. I have twelve rows- the one on each end is actually at the fence line and planted with my favorite wildflowers- Zinnia, Cosmos, and Sunflowers. This will be a trial and error year. We already know we will have to contend with Deer. I’ve noticed Rabbits out here too. I’m sure there are Raccoons as well. All of these critters will love my vegetable garden and potentially be a pain to keep out. I have a plan for the deer but not sure what to do about the other critters yet.

Jamey leveled the garden area a little with the bulldozer a few weeks ago. We intended to rent a tiller for the tractor to plow the area but had a difficult time locating one. If we are successful we will invest in a tiller for the tractor. So we rented a walk behind tiller to see if we could manage breaking up the ground. Jamey, Noah, and Madison all took turns tilling. Whoever wasn’t tilling had the task of picking up the million rocks. The kids nicknamed the garden Rocky Top.

I didn’t think we would ever get all the rocks picked up, but we made great progress and within a couple of hours our garden was ready to plant.

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I had a difficult time finding all the seed I wanted to plant. I’ve never had a problem before so I guess it’s just another effect of the CoronaVirus. I managed to find squash, zucchini, green beans, some herbs, cucumber, tomato, pepper and potato seed.

Genesis 1:11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

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As soon as I was finished making my rows and planting, we went to work on putting up a deer fence.

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Our deer fence is T-post on the corners, a center post and one extra post to put the PVC gate on. We are making the PVC gate out of 7′ PVC pipe, 2 t- connectors and 2 elbows. The gate will slide over the T-post so it will be supported and move freely. The remainder of the fence will have 20 pound test clear fishing line placed every 6-8 inches horizontally, from the ground up. Our T-posts are 5′ tall after installing them. According to other farmers, deer will feel the fence and it will startle them. They can’t see how high the fishing line goes so they won’t jump over the fence. If you use colored fishing line, they can see it so they will jump the fence. I’m hoping this design will prove affective. I’ll definitely update ya’ll later on how well it works!

Do you have fond memories of gardening with your parents or grandparents? I would love to hear from ya’ll! Leave me a comment below!

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