#vegetablegardening #growyourownfood #pnw #homeandgardenblogger #thefraservalley

Hello! Lots is happening here at our home in the Fraser Valley of Beautiful BC., Canada. Technically we aren’t allowed to leave our area so we have been working hard at our backyard and garden.

This year I’m actually being somewhat organized. More then I ever have, and I’m already noticing a huge difference. Always write your goals down as to what you want to do for you garden (or any project) and get to work.

Yard Preparation

First things first…FIX MY MISTAKES. I wrote a raised bed mistake blog post last year. I was NOT doing another year with an invasive plant coming up.

I dug down and buried cardboard like I should have done and so far nothing has come back up.

Next, We made MORE GARDEN SPACE. I have a BIG goal of making our property a suburban homestead while still having space for the kids.

I can’t wait to share the final reveal for this area. It’s changed so much already. If you watch the video at the end of this post on YouTube you will see more of what we did.

Here’s how the raised bed is today. It’s needs some maintenance for weeding but no more invasive plant.

DIY Vegetable Garden Planning

Anyone else just throw some seeds in pots and water and hope for the best? This is how I used to be. I just bought seeds and just went with it. Not this year. I felt strongly last year for plant more and learn a better way to grow food for my family.

This is the most simple and EASY way to plan. It’s never too late to make one of these.

I literally just bought a binder (white with clear plastic slip cover) from the dollar store. Grabbed some gardening magazines and some paper and tabs. With the gardening magazines I found words that fit my goals and pictures I’m inspired by for my garden.

I now have a planning binder. For barely any money and simple.

I created a map of our backyard. I have to update this as we have planted more trees and such.

I also made tabs for Seed Inventory, Planting Log, Gardening Goals and Garden Maps. Make tabs for whatever you feel fits for what you want to keep organized.

Have fun with this. Each Garden is unique because we are all different people. I l hope this was helpful to you in your gardening journey.

Here’s a video with more of how our yard is currently with a sneak peak of our new fence. There’s much more to come. Subscribe to the Blog and My YouTube Channel for upcoming content.

Enjoy and have a great weekend.

Carrie Plantinga

Home and Garden Blogger

Vegetable Gardening It’s March, the official day of spring is coming up very soon. I hope my posts about my gardening is helpful to you in your own gardening projects. As going into this new direction with my blog with my niche of Home and Garden I have so much to catch up on it feels like.

Vegetable Gardening!

Best part about growing your own Vegetable Garden is eating FRESH food! Here’s a picture of our own green beans and the lovely pork chops from the pig we bought this past year.

However, if there is something that I share and post that you want me to expand on please comment below so I can get that information on my blog and share it with others.

Vegetable gardening is something my family and my husbands family for years. My mom is known for her front yard garden. I hear about it lots from people who know my parents. Lots of what I have comes from my family and my mother in law.

If you saw my Garden/Backyard Planning post you will see what used to be on our yard.

Before the Raised Garden beds went in last spring this was what my garden used to look like before I harvested in August.

This was a lot of work to maintain. I love how this looks, especially with the arch from our wedding. I updated it and painted it years ago. It got twisted up in a storm and I had to get rid of it sadly.

I mentioned in my Raised Garden Beds post about one negative and that is not being able to grow squash. In the picture above you can see how big the plants are in this picture.

I had an amazing harvest this particular year and plan to grow another squash garden again. If your starting out vegetable gardening this is one easy vegetable to grow.

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For more ideas on easy vegetables to grow, check out Tara’s blog on 8 Easy Vegetables to grow. Thanks Tara for including me.

Here’s what I grow in my Garden:

Pole Beans – Family Favorite – Using seeds from my grandparents.
Snap Peas – Our kids eat these off the vine for a snack
Kale – Again – seeds I get from my mom.
Zucchini
Rhubarb
Herbs – Maggie, Chives, Parsley, Basil etc…
Radishes
Garlic
White onion

I mentioned failing at things. When we bought our place I got to take on the harvest of the previous owner. She had LOADS of tomatoes in the greenhouse. I got, potatoes and so much more. I was so overwhelmed with unpacking I gave LOTS away.

I worked in a vegetable farm after high school and I knew right away these tomatoes never had their suckers pinched.

Since this abundant time I have only used this as a started house. We have changed out the soil and I need to test it to find out what’s wrong with the soil. I can only grow stuff in pots at this point.

Again, as I embark on this new direction as a Home and Garden Blogger, please let me know what you would like me to write more about. Comment below