I get eager as March approaches as I can feel spring just around the corner. I love the renewal and rebirth of nature. As a family, this is our first spring season in Texas and we are seeing signs of spring earlier than we are used to from springtime in the Pacific NW. I’ve always dreamed of having lots of yard space to grow a garden for flowers, trees, vegetables and herbs, and yard space for the kids to play. Now that we have the yard space at our Texas home, it was time to make it all happen. We spent the past couple of weekends starting a new gardening project that involved installing raised garden beds, selecting seeds and fruit trees, and getting the seeds and starts in the soil. I would eventually love to have a greenhouse, but I’ll save that goal for a later time and focus on starting small with raised beds and a few fruit trees. We planned and plotted the northern portion of our property that receives full sun to place our garden.
Our gardening project consisted of three phases over two weekends:
- Phase One: Inspiration, planning and and plotting
- Phase Two: Select trees, seeds and space, and install raised beds
- Phase Three: Add soil, sow the seeds, plant the starts
Phase 1: The Inspiration
We recently returned from our first trip to Waco and the Magnolia Silos and what a better time to visit and get a burst of inspiration as we were in the beginning stages of our gardening project. The gardens outside of the Seed and Supply store truly inspired me to get my garden dream going and #gardengoals accomplished.
Not to mention, reading up on my Magnolia Journal with a cup of coffee led to me plot out where this garden would go and what would go in it. I’m still not sure how all this will turn out, but I will give it a try and enjoy the process and hopefully be rewarded with a beautiful harvest.
Early morning reading and inspiration to start a garden (January 2018)
First rough sketch of where the raised beds and trees will go (February 2018)
Phase 2: Tree and Seed Selection
We got our fruit trees from Guerin Nursery in Granbury. This is a great local nursery that carries many native plants and varieties of annuals and perennials, with the largest selection of fruit and flowering trees. We knew we wanted apple trees and peach trees for their spring blossoms and of course for their fruit! We were thrilled to find Honeycrisp Apples (our favorite) and Fuji Apples. We let the boys each pick out their own trees. For seeds, Eden Brothers offers one of the largest seed and flower bulb assortment available in the United States from heirloom, rare and hard to find flower seeds, vegetable seeds and herb seeds.
Nursery with the boys to pick out fruit trees that will be planted in the garden (February)
Seeds I selected, thanks to Joanna Gaines’ inspiration from her Garden Shed episode on Fixer Upper: Hyacinth Beans, Sweet Peas, Zinnia, and Wild Flower seeds
Vegetable and herb seeds for John’s salsa garden
3L x 6W ft cedar wood raised beds installed by John with Baron’s help :). (March)
Adding a water seal on the exterior to protect the wood from the outdoor elements
Lining the interior of the beds with landscape fabric to prevent weeds from growing into the soil and plants
Phase 3: Add potting soil, sow seeds and plant starts
I wanted to involve the kids as much as possible in the process of planning and creating our new garden. They had fun choosing the fruit trees at the local nursery that would be planted in the ground, along with what types of fruit and vegetables they wanted to grow. Jonah chose strawberries and Baron chose carrots! The boys will have their own dedicated garden bed that they will tend to, while John and I will share three garden beds dedicated to growing ingredients for his salsa garden and my very own cut flower garden.
Jonah’s strawberry starts
Jonah and Baron sowing their first seeds in their garden bed
Jonah’s sweet pea seeds
Baron’s hyacinth bean seed
Now we wait for the grass and trees to turn green and bloom again, and let Mother Nature take its course. I can’t wait to see how everyone’s gardens will grow: my cut flower garden, John’s salsa garden, and the boys’ fruit and vegetable garden. My hope is that gardening with our kids teaches them to appreciate nature, the virtue of patience, and to celebrate wonder. The past weekend with my little gardeners, we planted the seeds of hope—which is what a seed is and what a garden is—a promise of what will come.