Gardening Like a Pioneer

My husband and I both grew up gardening.

Some years it was starting the plants from seed. I remember doing multiplication and long division by the light of the seedlings' grow light. Other years it was purchasing plants from the local Mennonite country store.But every year I can remember, we had a garden. A three car garage sized garden.



And then we froze. And canned. And froze again. And....canned again.

And then there was the wild berries. Black berries. Elderberries. Black Raspberries....

So when we purchased our first home, it only made sense that we would have a garden.

Yukon, Red,and Russet

Tomatoes, squash, zucchini, okra, pumpkins, peppers, corn, ... if we could grow it where we live...we've probably grown or tried to grow it. And if it wasn't supposed to grow...we've probably tried it too!

We both knew growing up that there are many things that are needed for a successful garden. Soil quality, sunny location, irrigation during dry spells, and protection from wildlife.  Well...... our new property had none of those qualities when we moved in.  We really felt like the pioneers who first tried to tame this land and homesteaded where trees had to be felled which thankfully double duties as fire wood for this coming winter, brush cut out, and stumps removed....for the most part. Most of the stump removal will happen next summer.

The two things we were unable to complete before our short growing season started was protection from the wildlife and soil quality. Our soil is very sandy and acidic from all the pine trees which isn't a great combination for growing veggies.

So...... This year it CRASHED. And man, did it royally crash and burn. I started the plants from seed. But...lighting wasn't good, I was too tired, timing wasn't good, soil... Not to mention the whole removing the trees part that took a lot of time and energy.  But we prevailed and a whole garden did get planted.

And nothing grew.

Well...maybe not nothing, but barely nothing. The potatoes grew....a few. The zucchini grew...sloooowly. The onions .... well they stopped growing a couple months ago. The peppers, beans, kohl crops...they all gotten eaten. The corn...it grew! 10 inches...and then tried tasseling. 😳

Part of our harvest

But...we have ideas, thoughts, and dreams for next year. I have nothing much to share about this year's garden, but next year....Next year...we'll try again. Try to improve the soil, work on better lightening for the seedlings, and a fence against animals.

And preserving the harvest? Well...there isn't much to preserve when your 12 zucchini plants only produce one to two zucchinis a day if your lucky and you eat them as fast as they come. And then there are the two small buckets of potatoes....which are being hit pretty hard.

But what I will share is what we like to make with fresh zucchini, yellow squash (forgot them...but they produce 1 every few days) and potatoes. And some food preservation of vegetables bought at the local food stand.

And, of course, how we work towards making our garden thrive this next year. We have a cool idea of how to build our fence. We have several DIY ideas to improve the soil with items we already have or are producing. So follow along and see what works...and what doesn't.

Gardening can sometimes sound scary and huge. But while it is a lot of work, gardening is not that difficult or scary. In fact it's pretty fun, very rewarding, and totally delicious!!

Do you have a fun or unique zucchini recipe you love? I'm going to post one of our summer favorites here soon.