Update on the Southern California raised bed garden at our rental property. It is the middle of March and we have had temperatures in the 90s most of this week. Big transplanted garden update can be reduced to one major simple lesson. Water! I also cover some general goals and how we can measure success for our efforts.
Do not let your plants dry out as I have been close to. The raised bed both dries out fast and drains water below faster than I experienced with our in ground garden. North Carolina humidity and rainfall are also vastly different from Southern California! Keep an eye on the moisture content of your soil for success!
Wonderful news is our purchased tomato and pepper plants are doing well. Already have flowers forming and the likelihood of getting some 60 dollar tomatoes is increasing. Ultimately that is the trade off.
So let’s further define some goals!
Goal #1 is to keep the process of producing food ourselves. If we get some cherry tomatoes to put into a salad or our morning eggs, and a couple greens during some point of the year, I will count this as a win. First year gardens in a new area are always a challenge so I am setting very low goals!
Goal #2 is for the children to be involved and learning. A much easier goal to accomplish as they each have a quarter of this tiny plot and picked most of the stuff inside. Maybe next spring they will get some strawberries from their tiny plants we currently are getting established. Fresh strawberries off the plant are a great entry point for getting excited about gardening.
Goal #3 is also for the children. Do not be afraid of failure! We already had some talks on this topic as the seeds we started all failed. Not trying is the thing to fear. Step forward and see what happens.
Check out our other transplanted post on the main category page for the series. We are off our land temporary, renting and working small scale again! Always learning