Your grandparents or parents may have had a backyard garden. Well, with the quarantine, and the anxiety surrounding going to the grocery store and access to fresh food (produce in particular) in general, suddenly backyard gardens are all the rage once again. We had briefly considered starting one, but ultimately decided not to. Brianna did, though, and I checked in with her this week to find out what specifically goes into starting your first one in the time of CV.

One of my best friends, her father built us a raised 5 X 7 bed. (These beds are selling out everywhere right now.) When it came time to find a spot for it, he figured out which part of our yard gets the most sun and we placed it there.

Next we had to dig out all the grass in the area and put garden soil on top. If you don’t take up the grass, you will have weeds. My husband and I bought organic soil (organic is important to us) at Four Town Farm in Seekonk. It’s definitely an upfront investment because the soil we bought is $15 a bag and I ended up using 15 bags to fill the bed.

My same friend’s sister-in-law who has a massive garden and chickens at her home in Connecticut sent a sample layout because, she told me, you have to be careful about which vegetables you plant side by side. Ultimately I planned out my garden with Gardeners.Com. (See photo below.)

I used all plants from Four Town and Peckham’s, no seeds, and actual pieces of garlic 🧄 with the bottom facing up. (I might use seeds to grow carrots.)

All veggies are in the garden and all herbs are in glass pots that I picked up on the cheap at Job Lot.

Also, we cannot plant everything right now. We’re waiting for temps to be more consistent before we add in tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and cucumbers.

We’ll have more from Brianna’s and other local gardens soon.