Learning, Planning, and Growing

"Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established." 

(Pro 16:3)

My clematis on the trellis in Pennsylvania with vinca vines trailing on the ground behind.

I love my flowers, but living in Georgia and observing how my potted plants have done this past year (including forgetting to water) has given me cause to rethink and plan how I'll be able to have my lovely flowers year around and enjoy them.

As I think and plan, I pray about how to do things.  I have subscribed to a F*cebook page called Georgia Gardener and I've been pouring over ideas and gleaning wisdom to implement with my raised beds for our vegetables as well as for my flowers that I love.  I knew to a certain extent that things would be different here in Georgia than in Pennsylvania.  While the growing season is much longer, there is the heat in the summer to think about and try to overcome.  I've seen some people shading their plants in a variety of ways from burlap sacks propped up over the top of 5 gallon buckets, to simply having raised beds in a more shaded area of the yard.  As I plan and think on these things, I'm considering a pergola of sorts over the raised beds to create some shade, then adding some sort of vine on it for added shade.  I'm thinking of just simple posts in the ground with cross beams, and lattice across the top to make it more decorative because it will be in the front yard.  I'm thinking and praying over this idea more and more because it seems like a good alternative.

The shade provided by this trellis is exactly what I was thinking about.

The placement of these raised beds is almost exactly what I was thinking with a couple exceptions.  The star in the middle wouldn't be there and the beds along the side would connect making one long "edge" of raised bed.  Of course there would be more room due to the dimensions of our raised bed area being 24' x 24'.

I'd like to add the split rail fence and wire fence around the exterior due to wild animals and stray dogs in our area.  The placement and "ground" in this picture is very close to how I'd like to put my raised beds.  I have everything sketched out on a grid for future reference.

The pergola idea with flowers.  I was thinking of something like this or a non flowering vining plant due to bees being over head.

Of course watering everything has been largely on my mind as well, so I thought of soaker hoses in this fashion.

The thought behind this would be to simply turn the hose on and leave it on for an hour in the evening and an hour in the morning to completely soak the roots without putting water on the leaves of the plants.  I don't want to burn the leaves of the plants with the Georgia sun shining on water droplets.

 What is the purpose of all this praying, planning, thinking, researching, and observing?  Of course this is a wonderful question!  We have always grown something, whether flowers, gardens, or both.  In the height of our gardening years, we canned over 100 quarts of tomato products with 55 quarts being just sauce, 20+ quarts of salsa, stewed tomatoes, chili sauce and anything else we could find to make with tomatoes.  We canned pickles, jams and jellies, all sorts of combinations of veggies, as well as blanching and freezing 12 dozen ears of corn, pumpkin, zucchini, and everything else we could.  We pressure canned green beans, chili, chicken soup, sausage, venison, potatoes, and whatever else we could.  We dehydrated hot peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, basil, oregano, chives, and anything else we could think of to preserve.

There is so much satisfaction knowing where your food comes from.  The health benefits knowing that there is sea salt instead of iodized salt in your green beans for help with high blood pressure gives so much more peace of mind when preparing these foods for yourself and your family.

This is why we do the work to tend to our family.  It isn't just that it saves us money because the initial investment in the preparation of the raised beds, hoses and so forth is the biggest monetary investment.  But the pay-off is well worth it in the long run.  

This is the area where we will put the raised beds and pergola--4'+ away from the windows.

We certainly have our work "cut out" for us.  This work will begin in January, shortly after Christmas ends and everything is put away.  I will certainly share the progress with everyone, along with pictures.  The beginning of the process will likely be the pergola, then the plastic and then raised beds.  I'm hoping to have lettuces and so forth planted by the end of January since they are cool weather plants.  We will likely have tomatoes and peppers in by the end of February.  We have a 24' x 24' space where we'll plant everything.  Considering the longer growing season, we'll likely be canning and preserving things close to year around, with the exception of canning in the summer months.  I'll freeze everything in the summer to be canned when the outside temperatures are cooler.  

How are you planning?

Have a Blessed Day!