Beginner Backyard Gardening Woes

Spring 2023 was my first season trying to garden in my new, large backyard. For as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamt of growing my own fruits and vegetables. Living most of my life in apartments in San Francisco with little to no outdoor space, I was limited to container gardening on sunny windowsills. 

My first studio apartment in San Francisco in Lower Nob Hill had massive windows that faced west and let tons of afternoon sun into the space. I had some spectacular sunset views from that apartment that I still miss today.

But I digress…at some point, I decided to try vegetable container gardening. I planted green beans, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplant (evidence that I really had no idea what I was doing). It was all an experiment that basically ended up with my apartment overrun by tall plants that produced very little fruit. Before it reached Little Shop of Horrors level, I had to give away most of the plants or move them out to the common areas of my building.

Fast forward over 15 years. I’m now living in a climate with a very long growing season and have a large backyard that is the perfect place for gardening. I couldn’t have been more excited and I immediately started planning. I did some research and decided to start with some basic herbs and “beginner” vegetables like beans, tomatoes (yes, technically a fruit – I know), carrots, beets, radishes, and some lettuces.

I decided to start from seed – vs. buying plants that have already been started which seemed very ambitious but I was determined to make things as difficult as possible for myself. Ha ha!

I bought grow lights in an attempt to get things germinating and sprouting in time for me to harden them off.

I was so organized, labeling everything and diligently watering. You couldn’t imagine my joy and excitement when the little sprouts began to appear! I would call Dennis into the breakfast room where I had everything set up multiple times a day exclaiming wonder and amazement about my thriving plant babies. 

Time went by and it became temperate enough to start hardening the plants off. This is the process of slowly introducing the young, fragile plants to the outdoors to acclimate them to better survive after transplanting them into the ground.

I also made two 4×4 foot raised garden beds where I direct sowed the root vegetables and lettuces. This also required a lot of organization and planning. Again, I was brimming with pride over my execution. I even covered them with some chicken wire to attempt to prevent the squirrels who love to dig and play around in the garden. More on that later…

As you can see, once the plants get to a certain height, it’s no longer practical to keep the chicken wire in place. I had to remove it and hope for the best. Unfortunately, the squirrels had a field day and pretty much dug up or ate anything that was growing. Except for some carrots.

Here’s what I got from my carrot seeds; these give new meaning to the term “baby carrot”. I decided to harvest them before the squirrels had a chance to destroy everything. They were just as tasty as they were cute.

Another peculiar thing that happened is that everything started very healthy, most of the plants seemed to survive but would then stop growing. Meaning, they would never fully mature or produce very much. Here’s an example of a radish that should have been mature based on the date planted. Although, it looks very healthy it is also very small.

Similar story with all of my lettuces.

I suppose I shouldn’t be too disappointed. After all, I was able to successfully grow many of these plants but I wanted a bountiful harvest rather than enough to barely make a decent side salad. Ha!

It’s now time to start 2024’s spring garden. We’ve been having tons of rain and I’m still not entirely sure how I’m going to use my raised planters but I’m excited to give this a second try. Everyone says not to give up. Each season is different and there are always lessons to learn. 

I started out by using the space where I had last year’s carrots for a chaos wildflower garden. “Chaos Gardening” refers to scattering seeds around without much planning and hoping for the best. 

Here’s a video of what I did:

This season, I’m going to plant much much more and pay more attention to fertilizing and barriers for the pesky squirrels. 

The other important thing I’d like to mention about gardening is the incredible mental and physical health benefits. Gardening is like meditation. There’s also something primal about digging in the soil and weeding, preparing large spaces for planting, and simply moving around in the garden is a form of beneficial exercise. 

On days when I’m working from home, one of my favorite things is to take a break to water the garden, do some weeding, or simply spend time observing the progress of my plants. 

I’m looking forward to sharing my 2024 gardening adventures with you. Hopefully more triumphs this time around and fewer woes.