Twins' Musings: On my wishlist/to-do-list this spring: Creating an edible garden

Sunday, March 15, 2009

On my wishlist/to-do-list this spring: Creating an edible garden

It's this time of year that I realize how wonderful it is to have fruit trees. I can just walk outside and grab my breakfast; a grapefruit or a tangelo. This year's bounty of citrus goodness has prompted me to explore growing my own fruits, veggies and herbs.

We have 1 tangelo, 1 grapefruit, 1 rosemary bush and 2 Chinese apple (jujube) trees. Wouldn't it be awesome to not have to buy produce at the grocery store? A girl can dream, right?!

Grapefruit tree....probably 40 years old

Whoa....awesome kitchen garden via Flickr
Kitchen garden at Griffin home

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gardeninginaminute/

My backyard edible garden wishlist includes:
carrots
strawberries
endive
rhubarb
potatoes
cucumbers
tomatoes
peppers
potatoes
corn
pomegranate (had an ornamental one that we took out because it took over the yard)
garlic
mint
cilantro

Obviously I don't have enough farming area in my backyard for all of these, so I might try to start with the herbs, cucumbers, strawberries and maybe tomatoes.

On my quest for DIY modern edible gardens, I came across a blog known as Heavy Petal. I could spend hours soaking in all the amazing outdoor ideas on this site!

I decided I am going to ask Matt to make me raised planter beds along the wall in the backyard. I'm still debating on wood selection and color, but I'm thinking the size of the bed will be about 5' long x 3' wide.