About

Cabbages the size of my head

My Garden Journey

My gardening journey began with a Christmas present from my mom: an Aerogarden. I had wanted to get into growing fruits and vegetables already, and had even tried it a couple of times. But, it was the Aerogarden that got me hooked. It was so fun growing lettuce, herbs, tomatoes, peppers, and more on my kitchen counter.

  • My Aerogarden Bounty
  • Mix of kales, lettuces, and arugula
  • Tomatoes and peppers
The Aerogarden is what got me hooked on gardening

After a winter of growing in the Aerogarden, I stepped up and bought a small greenhouse. Inside I made a homemade hydroponic system capable of growing larger plants.

  • I started with the greenhouse on my back deck
  • Built a homemade hydroponic system
  • It turned into a jungle
We called it the Kistner Greenhouse Project—learned a lot from it
Oh man, so much I did wrong, but had loads of fun doing it

The next year, my gracious wife allowed me to convert our side yard into a container garden.

  • Covered the grass with fabric then laid stones
  • Ordered a few cubic yards of dirt and compost
  • Filled the fabric containers
  • I had a lot of containers
  • After I planted out the containers
  • I made a drip irrigation system to water them
I wanted to try containers first because I wasn’t sure how I wanted to arrange the in-ground garden. Learned a lot from this big step up.

Finally, I converted the side yard into a 300 square foot in-ground garden. I relocated my greenhouse here as well.

  • Removed some shrubs to make room for the greenhouse
  • We pulled up the old brick path
  • Slowly I pulled up the fabric and poured out the containers
  • I then had a blank canvas
  • I spread out the old soil
  • Laid pathways that would stand up to our heavy winter rains
  • Finally, the garden was ready!
  • Here it is in its first year
  • Happy farmer 🙂
Converting the side garden from container to in-ground was another step up for me

In addition to my main garden, I have a fair amount of containers on my deck that I use for some lettuces and herbs. I’m also working on another, smaller garden, which I’ll post about when it’s ready.

All along my journey, I have been focused on learning new techniques to maximize food production. I’ve watched countless hours of YouTube videos and have read quite a few articles and a handful of books. I would generally consider myself an organic gardener as I don’t use pesticides or chemically derived fertilizers. I still have a long way to go to reach my goal of providing year round produce for my family. Onward!

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