My Slice of Paradise: Starting a Garden

Our first year of marriage was tumultuous.

Not because of personal conflicts or dealing with the mythical honeymoon phase, but because in the span of that year we moved 4 times (5 if you count both of us moving into the studio apartment we started in).

We set up roots in a tiny studio apartment the size of our bedrooms. 3.5 months later we packed everything up and journeyed off for my husband's first round of training as an officer. 5 months after that we found ourselves in my mom's house (she is a saint) as a sort of layover until we received law school offers and made our choice.

Finally, as a matter of fateful coincidence, we were able to move into my in-law's rental home. They are great landlords, and we're so thankful for the deal we get on our little home. We're lucky that we have a short drive to school, a huge backyard for the pups, and plenty of room-- especially with our new addition on the way.



One of the first things I loved about this house was a little portion of yard that was rectangles off by lumber: a garden.

It had been a long time since this patch of yard had been used as a garden. The weeds and grass grew inside just as they did outside of its boundaries. That didn't phase me at all.  We moved into the house right around our first wedding anniversary, and within 2 weeks of that we were tilling up the garden's ground.

Here are a few pictures from various stages of getting the garden set up:

Bare bones of our little garden before I added another pallet and put up a chicken wire boundary around it to keep our bratty dogs out

This was last year during my second growing season. I cleared out weeds and added in a few bags of garden soil to already turned soil.  

Pallets for small, frequently harvested plants

We salvaged two pallets which I stapled garden weed fabric along one side of before laying flat and filling with a garden soil mix. I used those to plant salad greens (kale and swiss chard!) the last two years, and I find that they make a perfect little separated area for the plants.

The first growing season, I used my pallet for swiss chard, kale, and an attempt at broccoli that was planted way too late!

My Go-To Plants?

I know everyone loves tomatoes, but for some reason I have failed with tomato plants for the last two years.

Okay, "fail" is a strong word, but the first year I had a mislabeled seed pack and planted 4 cherry tomato plants instead of normal ones-- I can't make this stuff up. Then, last year I was working and some extreme weather killed my tomato plants and pretty much everything else that wasn't already established.  It was no good!

My favorite plants are cucumbers (I always have luck with them!) and mint! 

A handful of mint sprigs I used to propagate new plants for our front walkway

Mint is amazing, particularly because we live in Louisville and with the Kentucky Derby comes many Mint Juleps! If you aren't familiar, they're the traditional cocktail of the Derby.  We enjoy our bourbon mixers, and I make a mean homemade mint julep with my mint plants! I plan on posting about the recipe and how to make the prettiest, yummiest julep in a few weeks!

Another great thing about mint is how fast and easily it spreads.  I started with a tiny mint plant and actually propagated about 4 other plants before the end of fall last year.  

It grew so fast and so well that I ended up planting it in front of our porch where monkey grass/weeds tend to overgrow during the summer. The mint took over and the entire walkway up to our door smelled minty and delicious. It was pretty great! 

My favorite thing

Perhaps the best thing about gardening for me is enjoying the warmth and outdoors (with lots of sunblock!), and also getting to see physical products of my work and love that I put into it.  It's a wonderful reward to be able to meditate through planting and caring for those plants, and then reaping the benefits of harvesting them.  It's a way that I connect stress relief and mental peace to actual health and wellness.

I hope everyone has enjoyed this tiny view into my garden! I am happily working away at planting new seedlings for this year and working up the soil/getting rid of weeds. Kentucky has been unseasonably warm and mild this winter, and it looks like we're flowing directly into Spring. (I'm looking at you Puxatawney Phil!)

I'll post an update on what seeds I've planted and how the garden is progressing soon!