Sun, Soil, and Squirrels: My Epic 2023 Garden Project Journey!

I started our family garden for 3 reasons: I’ve always wanted a garden and am a gardener at heart, As a Single Mother by Choice I am always on the grind keeping up a rigorous pace of shuttling the kids and myself through our days and wanted to be intentional about slowing down and connect with ourselves and nature, and I wanted my children to know where their food comes from and all that comes with that knowledge. And boy, what an adventure it has been. We started planning our garden in 2021 and we are still at it going into the 2023 garden season. I am so excited!

I am absolutely thrilled to share with everyone about our 2023 garden project! After realizing that our 2022 garden was in a less-than-ideal location (read more about our “shade garden”), I decided to take matters into my own hands and moved it to a sunnier spot in our backyard. And let me tell you, it was quite an undertaking, but the children helped!

First, I spent months planning and preparing for the move. I carefully designed and measured out the new site, assessed the grade and condition of the land, and filled in any holes and divots. Then used garden twigs, leaves, and topsoil to level the land as best I could and then I covered the entire area with cardboard. Finally, I laid heavy-duty landscape fabric on top of the cardboard and used staples to hold everything in place.

But that was just the beginning! I also assembled new raised beds and moved all our existing containers and raised beds to the new location. And because I wanted everything to be perfect before the snow came, I worked tirelessly to bring in and store all the supplies I would need for the project, including paving stones, irrigation kits, and more.

And let me tell you, my efforts paid off! The new location looks just as I envisioned, with the promise of plenty of sun and room to grow. I even installed a new fence (check out the video here)with the help of my 8-year-old daughter, who was more than happy to lend a hand. Hopefully, the new fence will thwart the aggressive squirrels, birds, and neighborhood cats that liked to visit our backyard.

But perhaps my favorite part of this project was getting to choose all the new plants and berry bushes that will call our garden home. From tomatoes to cucumbers to strawberries and more, I carefully selected each one with care and consideration. We’ll see how they turn out (details to come in another blog post).

And thanks to my replicated irrigation setup from last summer, I hope again, to be able to water my garden easily and efficiently without any fuss or hassle.

All in all, I am over the moon with how this project turned out. It was a lot of hard work, but seeing my garden in its new location and the children’s excitement over the thought of growing their own raspberries and blackberries made it all worth it. Fingers crossed that this will be a summer filled with fruitful growing and beautiful blooms! I’ll keep you posted.

If you’re interested in seeing the progress of my 2023 garden project, be sure to check out the Our Family Garden section of the Start to Finish Motherhood YouTube channel. Where I will be posting regular video updates of the garden as it grows and thrives in its new location. So, if you want to stay up to date on all the latest developments, be sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell to get notified when we post new videos. Thanks for following along with us on this exciting journey!

Garden Supplies: