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Welcome, to our zone 8a garden!

This is where we play and practice. A 1,000 square foot garden on black gumbo clay in North Texas with one goal in mind: abundance. Every year, and each season, we see the goal grow closer as hard work and good practices are layered in place. In the spring, it is home to plastic diggers, dumpers and fresh loads of compost. The peas spring up, and the chill comes and goes. Summer brings warmth, and the plans jump in size and production. This is when we sweat; a lot. Midsummer here is quite like winter, and we pause. Come fall, we take to action again, prepping for the tunnels that will hold things all winter.

Each season, we share the new seeds, techniques and ideas we are preparing for the next. Reflection on new obstacles and successes intertwined with next year's lofty plans. Join us as we share the realities of new gardens in a non-gardening state, suburban neighborhood during the early years of child rearing.

toddler with the tomato harvest buckets, filled

Our vegetables and flowers are grown on a 1,000 sq. ft. raised bed plot on black gumbo clay soil in North Texas (Zone 8a). We broke ground in the spring of 2021 shortly after we moved out of the "big city", as our toddler calls it.

The goal? Abundance. Fresh eating, enough to store, and plenty to share. But even though our book knowledge (and YouTube knowledge!) is abundant, there is no teacher quite like experience. She's a young garden, and the reality is that our land is old cattle pasture turned residential neighborhood. Growing good dirt is our first step. We've been lucky to grow a few veggies and flowers, and life lessons along the way.

map drawing of garden in scale

In 2024, we completed our first rotation of all our main crops. So far, the added compost, natural supplementation (fish emulsion, blood meal, chicken poop) and rotation of crops has caused the garden harvests to multiply each year. We are still organic, no dig.

This was also the year we created a three foot mulch border around the garden to reduce the push mowing and bermuda grass problem that plagued us. We also invested in our first perennial fruits and vegetables, which we added to raised beds where we had previously rotated onions and garlic. These included: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and asparagus. There's a blackberry patch in our front yard due to the amount of flooding our non-bordered garden area experiences each spring.

As of the fall, we have a tilled area we tested with sunflowers (no success) that we have tarped. Goal is to have a separate area for sunflowers, pumpkin and watermelons during the summer.

Here's What's Been Growing:

stack of gardening books with yellow sunflowers on top

10 Books for the Gardener

Learn the ins, outs and nuances of gardening with excellent teaching and vivid imagery with our favorite books for the gardener. When someone first ...

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wheel barrow of garlic from spring harvest

Understanding Garden Hardiness Zones for Beginners

When first starting our garden, I endlessly researched what I could plant in my garden hardiness zone. I do suppose you could manage to get most any ...

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back of a seed packet

How to Read a Seed Packet & Sourcing Seeds

Take a dive on all things seeds for spring garden planning: seed types, seed sources and seed starting.  They start as tiny specks in your ...

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How to Overwinter Tender Annuals

In past posts, we’ve talked about the fall garden providing during the winter but today we chat the bright, spring charm of the overwintered tender ...

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hand holding lettuce seed and seed packets

Simple & Cost Effective Seed Starting

Take the easy jump into seed starting your herbs, vegetables and flowers with a simple and cost effective set-up. They say chickens are the gateway ...

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seed starts with hori hori knife in hand

How to Succession Plant & Make Garden Goals

Goals for flowers, vegetables, expansion and the farmer - it's just January. And so we begin our fourth year growing in the garden! Reflection on the ...

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child hiding in tall sunflower patch

Zone 8a Garden: 12 End of the Year Garden Tasks

August wraps up summer and prepares for the fall. The farmers must roll up their sleeves and prepare for a long chore list while the heat bears down. ...

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harvested bell peppers in red, yellow and orange

Zone 8a Garden: August

August wraps up summer and prepares for the fall. The farmers must roll up their sleeves and prepare for a long chore list while the heat bears down. ...

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winter garden carrots

Zone 8a Winter Garden: Cold, Windy Work

Winter work; it is the planning and foundational grunt work of the year and now is the time to begin! Our first ice storm is descending upon us ...

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toddler with the tomato harvest buckets, filled

Zone 8a Summer Garden: Too Many Tomatoes

Summer 2023 came and went, the most exciting time in the garden, and there was not one update. Common excuses of a mom of two who gardens, reads a lot ...

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Thanks for stopping in! I’m Shannon, a second time mom on the move between the garden and the kitchen with toddler & baby in tow. Here, we believe that there’s always something to celebrate, a mess to be made and something to learn along the way – and what comes from your “wooden spoons” is always best. Stick around for seasonal and homemade things to try! To read more, click here.

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