It finally happened! My first garden harvest! Yes, that's one zucchini in my basket, but I'm so proud of it! Ha! It's been a long journey to get to this point!
It all started with a few seeds! I didn't do an official blog post about this part, but I made a Reels video showing the very beginning stages of the garden: starting seeds Reels. Honestly, that was the worst part...watering those little seed trays everyday...then I had to keep them inside longer than planned because we had some late freezes in Dallas! My husband was thrilled. ;) Ha! Basically I just need a greenhouse, and that takes care of that problem! I will say, starting a garden from seeds is great because you can control more factors, BUT skipping the seed step and just buying baby veggies from a local nursery is also a great way to get started if you're only doing a small garden.
After the seeds (and the freezes!), I built my DIY Raised Garden Beds. It was a two-person job, so my husband helped, but I did the building...and I'm so proud of that!
After building the raised beds, I added this DIY Trellis for under $100! This was harder than building the raised beds, but so worth it! I can't wait until it's covered with vines and vegetables! Here's a quick before/after video of adding the trellis and garden to my barren yard!
The I could fill the raised beds! here's a look at What I Planted and then here's an update on how everything is growing!
The garden still isn't complete - I'm waiting on landscapers to finish it out with pea gravel and hardscape on top of the landscape fabric, but THEY are waiting on ME to decide exactly where I want things and what shape I want my back fence landscape bed to be. I've prioritized some other things and haven't made the time to decide, so it's not done yet.
After harvesting my one zucchini plus a few basil leaves, I decided to make an Italian feast to celebrate. I made homemade meatballs for the first time and they were SO good. Plus, my fresh zucchini, and wow. Such a fun din!
I harvested my zucchini on Saturday, and here's the zucchini plant the following Monday...already a few more that will be ready to harvest soon!
If you've been thinking about starting a garden, absolutely do it! Zucchini plants are so easy to grow (I'm in zone 8a), but make sure they have enough room!
Follow me on IG @rhondajenkins for garden and home updates!