We are fully into homestead life since we settled on our little farm E6 Acres Farm. The love of homesteading and farming all started years ago with learning the steps to starting a garden in our backyard. It really is the first step to starting a homestead in your backyard. I have some resources to share and I will share each step that we took to set up our backyard garden. I will go into detail about how the kids helped too.
How to Start a Backyard Garden
Our first step was to decide where the garden beds were going to go. it is also important to note that you should prepare to install your garden beds a few months before you plan to plant them. We dug our beds in February with the plan to plant seeds in April.
I read a book called Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre It gave me so many great tips and ideas. Our plan was to use the double dug method and add garden soil as well to get the best start. I share in detail about two ways to start garden beds while spending little money.
We planned for two 8-foot garden beds. They were placed outside of our fenced backyard so that our dog did not get into them. We made raised beds with 2×4 boards that my husband nailed and screwed together to make big rectangles.
Then, we started digging. The kids helped through the entire process, but most of the digging was done by my husband and me.
The plan was to dig the first row of dirt out and then dig another shovel length down. We flipped the soil over – grass side down — and placed it at the other end of the garden bed. We could put this soil on that end. So, we dug and flipped the next row of dirt into the first row and kept moving down the bed digging and flipping. The grass went down first, so it would die and fertilize the soil. Loose dirt went on top.
This helped aerate the soil and allowed us to remove any rocks or sticks. We could get a better assessment of the quality of the soil. We tested the soil after we were done. I will share more on that a little later into this post.
After we finished double digging each bed, we poured bags of garden soil on top. This would help fertilize and stabilize our soil. At the time, we did not have a compost bin, but in a post on our farm website, I share how we made compost bins with free pallets. It’s so easy!
The kids and I were using this garden project as part of our homeschool lessons. It put science learning into action.
Once we had the garden beds built and amended with organic soil, we decided to let the garden sit for a couple weeks before we tested the soil. This gave the soil microorganisms time to blend together.
The kids and I used a soil test kit to see how our soil composition is compared to the test kit charts. We found that we had to add some nutrients, but we wanted to do this as organically as we could. I found that wood ash, coffee ground and over ripe bananas were great ingredients to create a fertilizer amendment for our garden soil.
We amended our soil with some wood ash to add natural fertilizer that would add phosphorous. I just sprinkled this on the beds. I also blended together with water the brewed coffee grounds (to add nitrogen) pureed banana peels (to add potassium) and poured this slurry on the soil. We wanted to avoid using any synthetic pesticides or herbicides. Natural fertilizers were the way to go and they are much less expensive.
Next, we let everything sit for a few weeks. So, we started setting up our beds and digging in February and planned to plant them out in April. That gave our fertilizers time to breakdown into the soil.
To keep pests and animals out we added a fence too. Then, it was time to plant. We planted tomatoes, peppers, peas, beans and even carrots.
The kids and I enjoyed checking on the progress. Little by little our plants grew. We used a sprinkler timer so the hose would run automatically a couple times a day when rain was not in the forecast.
This process worked well and kept the time I needed to attend to the garden to a minimum. Weeding was a daily activity but doing it a little every day helped keep the weeds down.
I recommend this method of double digging the dirt to create a garden in your backyard for starting a homestead garden. We still use this method on our 5 ½ acre property. It is effective at getting you great garden beds right away without needing expensive equipment. There is also a second method that is even easier. I shared about it in a post on my farm site about how to install garden beds on a budget.
Our goal on our homestead is to do what we can with what we have first. Budget is important. Follow our farm blog for more farm and garden tips on a budget.
Have you started a garden? What method did you use?
