A backyard farm can be as small as a container on the back patio filled with lettuce and kale or as large as a full plot of land. Ours is on the small size. We have 2-2×4, 4-4×4 and 2-4×8 in-ground planter boxes. This means our boxes do not have a bottom. We plopped them right in the middle of a large grassy area with only a layer of cardboard at the bottom to kill the grass. We also converted an area of unused beds to plant pumpkins, a dahlia garden and 3 vertical potato towers. Our in-ground raised beds are made from juniper and yellow cedar. We purchased 6 yards of garden soil mix and mulch from our local Cedar Grove. We mixed in bags of Cedar Grove compost to make the soil nice and rich. Since our farm is organic it has been very important to purchase all our products from reputable organic companies. Seeds were purchased from Irish Eyes, a local Washington seed company, Territorial Seeds and Seed Savers Exchange. Sign up for seed catalogs online and start picking out your summer crops in January. We love to attend the NW Flower & Garden Show in February and talk to local gardeners to get fresh ideas. This is where we found the Irish Eyes brand and we have been very happy with the seeds and potato starts we purchased.

Watering the garden is critical. This is something we hope to improve on next year. To be honest it’s a fairly complicated undertaking and we are beginners so we just ordered an oscillating sprinkler and have it on a timer to go off at 4:30AM everyday. We also have 2 soaker hoses in the back bed that run for 30 minutes daily. The timer is a lifesaver. We purchased ours on Amazon.

All the books tell you about the benefits of backyard farming including year-round food, saving money, better variety, supporting local habitat and reducing water usage. These are all wonderful reasons to start a garden but for us the real benefits have been the incredible joy that comes from planting a wee seed and watching it grow into something you end up taking to your kitchen and turning into a beautiful meal. It’s been about sharing with neighbors and strolling through the garden every morning and night together. It is the fun in building a strategy of where and what to plant. It’s the sheer excitement and the feeling of anticipation of opening a potato tower and searching for 5 pounds of potatoes—just like looking for Easter eggs. It’s the meals cooked with the veggies you’ve grown yourself that can’t compare to any other meal in the world. These are just some of the reasons we will always have a backyard garden.

We hope you have enjoyed learning about our adventure with farming. Someday we might have chickens as well! In the meantime, if you ever have a question about starting a garden send us a message. Next week we will post our favorite resources for all things Backyard Farming.

#LoveWinsGarden #ForTheLoveofRenton #HomesbySteveandTracy #UrbanFarming #BackyardFarm #EatRealFood #EatLocal