Home & GardenHow to build a backyard garden: Part 2

In our first backyard garden series post we showed you how to start setting up your garden beds. Now it’s time to show how to finish digging the beds and how to plant all the wonderful fruits and veggies that you and your family will soon be enjoying. But before you actually start growing your own organic food, its important to consider the order, or arrangement, of your various plants. We incorporate “companion planting” when deciding where and how to arrange each type of fruit, vegetable, herb, or flower that will live in the garden. The theory behind it is that certain types of plants can be beneficial to each other when planted next to or close to one another. As one such example, we plant our lettuce and strawberries next to each other. Once the lettuce has been completely harvested, we’ll let it grow out (taller) to provide additional shade for the strawberries. In warm climates, that extra shade can really help your strawberries thrive longer since they like the warmth, but don’t like too much direct sun.

We planted 4 garden beds each facing the north/south direction. In the first bed, we planted romaine lettuce, spinach, and strawberries. In the second garden bed we planted broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. In the third garden bed, we planted beans (which grow on the below homemade vine support), cherry tomatoes, several herbs including cilantro, and parsley. And, finally some squash and a pomegranate bush.

In the fourth and final bed, we planted several flowers, blueberries,  artichokes, and peppers including Anaheim and jalapeno peppers. Check out the below pictures to see the garden progress until each of the beds have been filled.

This organic backyard garden will provide:

• Lettuce for salads and sandwiches
• Broccoli and cauliflower for dinner
• Carrots, strawberries. and blue berries can be harvested for fresh organic snacks
• Fresh herbs for seasoning soups, meats and more
• Peppers for green chile, and homemade pico de gallo, and more

Stay tuned for additional updates and pictures of the organic food you’ll be enjoying from your own backyard garden soon!!