2023 Barn Soured Garden
Welcome to the Barn Soured Garden! 2023 was not my first year gardening, but it was the year I decided to go all out with my garden. I ordered six raised garden beds, and we also tilled up a plot of dirt outside our yard for things like corn, potatoes, pumpkins, squash, and zucchini. Needless to say, I had a LARGE garden, and this year, I’ll be making some adjustments.
Raised Garden Beds
I purchased my galvanized raised garden beds from Amazon; find the link HERE. For reference, I paid $60 for each 8X4X1ft raised bed in February of 2023. When I looked today, they are on sale for $45.00 a piece. I purchased six of them and absolutely love them so far. However, I have only used them for one gardening season, so I will keep you posted on how they hold up. I also purchased rust stopper which I sprayed on the inside of the garden beds before I filled them to hopefully prevent rusting.
Before placing the beds down, we added weed barrier between the ground and the garden beds. I purchased mine from Sam’s club, but you can get this anywhere. Weeds usually eventually get through the weed barrier, but it does help prevent some weeds.
To fill the raised garden beds for the Barn Soured Garden, I used a technique called lasagna gardening. Where you fill your raised garden beds with different layers. I first filled them with sand, then raked the yard and added the twigs and leaves from the yard on top of the sand. After this, my husband added a layer of manure, and next we topped it with Miracle Grow all-purpose garden soil. I usually buy mine from Sam’s club but wait until they are on sale.
Something to note; when we spaced our garden beds out, we made sure that each pathway was big enough for our lawn mower to go between. This was a must for us. It prevents a lot of extra weed whacking.
Planting Seeds
I order all my seeds from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. I love the variety they offer, and I have had great success with their seeds.
Last year I ordered: Cadence XR (corn), Sweet Sunrise (bell peppers), Jasper (cherry tomatoes), Cruiser (cilantro), Genoveve Compact, Improved (basil), Breen (lettuce), Dragon (lettuce), Super Sugar Snap (snap peas), Auroch (spinach-I did not like how big the spinach leaves got), Glow Stix Sunrise Mix (rainbow carrots), Yellowfin (yellow squash), Noche (Zucchini), Jedi (Jalapeno), Helios (Habanero), Yukon Gold (potatoes), Galine (eggplant), Indigo Cherry Drops (cherry tomatoes-purple), Early Girl (tomato), Provider (bean), Gladius (Brussell sprouts).
Flowers I ordered: Giant Hybrid Mix (Dahlia Seed), Johnny’s Potomac Early Sunrise Mix (snapdragons), Giant Dahlia flowered golden yellow (Zinnia), Giant Orange (Zinnia), Oklahoma Scarlet (Zinnia), Benary’s Giant Deep Red (Zinnia), Sweet Red (Pelleted Dianthus), Chief Mix (celosia), Kaleidoscope Mix (nasturtium)
This is a LARGE number of seeds. I did not plant everything, and I would suggest if this were your first-time gardening to be sure to order a much smaller number of seeds to begin with! I went all out in my gardening adventures in 2023, but I learned a LOT. This was the very first year I planted flowers. I am so glad I did because my flowers were the best part of my garden. They made me incredibly happy, and I was able to have fresh flowers on the table for most of the summer!
I planted my indoor seeds on March 19th. I planted things that take longer to reach maturity. For example, tomatoes, flowers, egg plants, onions, anything that takes a long time to grow.
Growing Zone
I am in Growing Zone 5a, but in 2012 it was growing zone 4b. I tend to go with zone 4b because our temperatures can get down cooler than the 5a zone states. You can find your growing zone HERE. Your growing zone is helpful when planting perennial plants. You will need to make sure the perennials you plant are able to survive in your growing zone. Knowing your growing zone can also be helpful to guide you on what to plant and when. I found this helpful planting calendar for growing zone 4b, which you can find for any zone you are located in.
