Educator, Gardener, Certified Holistic Nutritionist
Judy DeJosia
The New Growing With Food Field Garden
Last autumn I was given yet another opportunity to expand my gardening journey. This is the biggest and most exciting gardening project I have done so far. With the help of my husband and a few friends, we have taken an overgrown field and turned it into a beautiful gardening spot. Here are a few photos of the process. Lots left to do, but we are making steady progress and the fencing, soil building, bed building, are in the works, and soon...developing a watering system using water from the nearby pond is going to be tackled.
Before
Early Start
Current Progress
IN THE GARDEN
THE BEGINNING OF MY NEW GARDEN ON TWO POND FARM
These few photos and descriptions show a brief glimpse at the beginning of my new garden starting in early 2021.
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March 2021 - My friends at Two Pond Farm graciously offered a spot on the farm for my new kitchen garden. I just finished the fencing and building the raised beds. I added loads of available compost from the sheep barn last winter, so the soil is already looking great. There are four six by eight foot plots and one 3 by sixteen foot plot, which is partially shaded by the barn, so it will be used for plants that can tolerate some afternoon shade. The garden is south facing, so most of it receives sunlight for 6-8 hours a day.
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Early Spring Vegetables
In this plot the broccoli rabe, carrots, beets, and peas are doing great. The bamboo supports were harvested from a friend's house...it's very invasive, so he's happy to give me what I need - sourcing more free materials.
In reviewing the productivity of this bed at the end of the season, I realized that the plants needed more space, things got very tight by June. My harvest was very good, but would have been even better if the plants had less competition.
LATER IN THE SEASON...
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The garden is thriving! I've grown enough food to keep my husband and me well fed all season and enough surplus to add some more produce to the farm store as well.
Even though every square inch of the garden has been used, most of the plants didn't seem to mind...with the exception of the pepper plants which got shaded by the tomatoes because the tomato plants where huge! 72 pints of tomato sauce and enough frozen peppers, kale, and Swiss chard to keep us set for the winter.
