Upper Peninsula raised bed garden || How it went and what I made

I guess this is my introduction into "homesteading". I think you can start as small as you need to as long as you learn how to use the harvest...and store it. My mom, to brag on her a bit, has really been my right hand with all this even though she is so far away. I can't think of how many phone calls she has had about what I should do with the harvest we got. But anyway back to the story. In the Winter- specifically January- I start feeling the need to look at seeds and plan a garden...almost like it's my new year's resolution but it kind of just happens. I blame it on the weather and being more in the house as usual. We have a SMALL yard here at our rental but its big enough to use for a few things. Parker decided to make a raised bed for me (3'x7'), he did a great job with it, too, because I had been begging to have a garden this year. I wanted to utilize as much of the area as I could and plant at least a small amount of everything I wanted. Now, that being said, I'd like to grow everything my heart desires but I wanted to also store it, use it, experiment with stuff etc. I planted lettuce (which was harvested first and only had a one day issue with worms), beets (see beet blog), carrots (I've never planted carrots), onions (that didn't work out), one tomato plant, 2 butternut squash (I ended up trellising them for more room), 2 zucchini plants (we all know that is plenty for a beginner), and some herb type things of lavender, chives and lemongrass which I used the latter for mosquito repellent. 

I had potted strawberries, green beans, peppers (I have no idea what kind of peppers but it never worked out) and cabbage (which the cabbage and the peppers I got for like 25 cents on sale because they were poor quality). Now to maximize space I had everything that could climb was growing vertically and as soon as I harvested something, like the lettuce being done or the carrots and beets being pulled, I used that open space to replant things or to plant some of the potted plants in that area. That's what I have done with the cabbage to great success so far (yup, winter gardening right now). 

Our first harvest of beets, only harvest of carrots and maybe the first tomato. The carrots were used in an oven baked Cornish hen dish that I made. Best carrots EVER. The lettuce served us well in many salads and on tacos. The rabbits were grateful their outdoor enclosure was next to the garden because I often throw them scraps. 

The tomatoes I used in pasta sauce, tomato soup and just raw for different meals. I made enough pasta sauce and tomato soup to freeze (OH! and I froze probably 15 whole tomatoes to use when I need them). In fact, I have enough tomato soup frozen for about 6 meals and I just used the last pasta sauce this week. I didn't make very much of that because I didn't have a lot of ingredients the recipes called for but I made it work and it tasted great! The zucchini was used in dishes like fried zucchini, zucchini fritters, and a whole lot of zucchini bread with enough in the freezer to make at least about 20 more loafs or other things that calls for it.

Besides freezing, which has been my primary mode of preservation since we got a big chest freezer, I have only canned pickled beets which can stay in the fridge. I need to try to can more things but I don't really have the tools for it at this point and I forgot how my mom showed me for...jelly??? I can't remember but there is a really easy method. The lemongrass I cut down and braided- it is said to be a great mosquito repellent and perhaps it is. I cut up and froze the chives. I have butternut squash on my pantry shelf and all else we have already ate. 

 

Lessons learned: I planted the green beans as an after thought so my plants didn't yield enough to have with a meal...nor did I plant enough to matter as it was pretty crowded in the garden. I planted the carrots, beets and onions together which was a great move and beneficial to their growth. Growing vertically in a small space optimized a lot of area and I think that helped. Of course praying over the garden! I had no pest, fungal, insect problems until the growing season was over. I did have that one occasion of the worms on the lettuce but I crushed up egg shells and put them on the soil around it and never had any more problems. 

All in all, the Upper Peninsula didn't live up to my ideal standard for growing. The weather was perfect over summer and rained about every day, just enough, but the growing season is very short. I think I had plants from when I was in Illinois which is the wrong zone so things took a bit longer to get started. Plus I planted almost everything from seeds and didn't have any starts except the tomato plant, cabbage, strawberries and pepper plant. And I think having a greenhouse would have been just amazing, but this was a great first year. I can promise you this, when we are no longer renting I am going to have the best garden I can possibly muster up. Even just writing this blog is getting me excited for that day because I have so many ideas. My ideas are going to incorporate a lot of great practices from Native Americans, my time at Lincoln's New Salem, and modern techniques and make it all as organic and natural as possible. 

"For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations." -Isaiah 61:11

- Nichole 🌿