The Garden Story
“Perhaps the reason you are drawn to flowers is not only for their outer beauty, but because they remind you beautiful things will bloom even after the longest seasons of waiting”
—Morgan Harper Nichols
It all started when we were early homeschoolers, looking to find a way to learn about nature and get our hands dirty - so we bought a book called "Square Foot Gardening" and planted some veggies to grow in one tiny little 4x4 box. It's now turned into a deep love for me - I ditched the veggies, stuck with cut flowers, and plant each little seed tray by tray. It's one of those things that is so inspiring to see what can come from something SO tiny - and create just bounds of happiness and handfuls of beauty.
Follow along below to see how the journey began (and continues)...
2017/2018
This was our very first 4x4 planter box. We planted mainly veggies the first two years, but expanded to a few flowers. It was just a fun little project to share with the kids and I - they spent time watering, caring for and enjoying the food!
2019
This was the year I decided to plant flowers - but instead of growing the seeds on my own, I went to the local greenhouse to "buy" the flowers to plant. This did not work out well for me - I knew nothing at this point! But, what I did discover was that I absolutely LOVED growing flowers.
2020
The expansion from one box, to two boxes, to three boxes - became a joke. How many more could I add? This year I grew my very own seeds - I set the small trays in the window and watched each one grow. Were they leggy? Yes? But did they succeed? YES! Enough to make me want to add more...
2021 - forward
I finally bit the bullet and hired a fencing company to come build this basic fence. Then, I started building and adding boxes, dirt and stones to create a garden getaway, safe from deer and bunnies - and prime for dreaming!
Backyard garden
After hauling in dirt, stones & sweat - we had the garden all ready! I was growing trays and trays of seeds by this point, with indoor lighting and an entire indoor seed growing set up - and now I finally had enough boxes to grow all the varieties I wanted!
What's next?
Now that we are on year 5 of the garden, I'm finding that I'm outgrowing it again. This year I'm working hard to find varieties of flowers that can grow outside of the fencing and not get eaten by our hungry deer, but what remains is that this little backyard oasis brings SO much joy!
The garden in its full glory!
