Building a new garden

The First Garden at 500 Herschel

We moved into the house in late February 3 days before son number four was born. We had chosen the house in part because of the large back yard which looked so suitable for gardening. And then we hit hard, packed clay. Oh well. You make do with what you have.

That first year was just one 3x15 plot in the ground. The first thing we learned is that plants like Kansas, alot. The tomato plants kept growing and growing and the tomatillo became a weed that grew into a monster taking up half the garden. We didn't get much else out of that garden other than tomatoes and tomatillos because we were still gardening on Montana time where you don't plant peas until late April. In Kansas, late April means several months into the season. The second season in Kansas also caught us by surprise. I mean really, we had never heard of such an absurdly long growing season.

So come fall, we were determined to conquer our new homeland (and the clay). We built raised beds and eagerly plotted our strategy to get the most out of it.