The Garden Expansion Pack

This is our third year gardening out at the farm — and our third year expanding it. It’s starting to feel like an annual tradition. Each spring, we look at what we had the year before, talk about what worked and what didn’t, and then we start dreaming bigger.

Back in year one, the garden was nothing more than a grass patch. My husband brought the field tiller out and broke ground. There was no fence. No weed barrier. Just raw ground, uneven and full of surprises. Weeds had a field day that year, and so did the deer. But it was a start, and honestly, we were just excited to have a larger space to grow food. 

Ryan mulching leaves over the garden in the fall of 2023

Year two was the first big transformation. We (mostly) leveled the soil, laid down landscaping fabric, and put up an electric fence. That felt like a game-changer. But, of course, no big change comes without its own set of challenges. The fencing was no small task — it’s a big space to fence. Thankfully, my brother and Ryan were willing to take it on and got it done in a day. The fabric, though… that was another story. It tore constantly. Walking on it, dragging tools across it, even pulling weeds near the edges would cause rips. By midseason, we were constantly patching and reworking things.

Spring of 2024 with the addition of landscape fabric and electric fence.

This year — year three — we went all in. We expanded the entire size of the garden and made some major upgrades. We swapped out the flimsy landscaping fabric for a much more durable option that still lets water through but can actually handle foot traffic and tools. We also found new garden stakes that punch through the fabric easily and hold strong, even in wind or rain.

The electric fence got an expansion too, and we added more growing structures like trellis arches and cattle panels for our vining veggies, and we finally got the bean tower out to the farm. That alone felt like a milestone. It’s been sitting in the corner of the shed, waiting for its big debut, and now it’s finally in use.

Each season teaches us something. What materials are worth investing in, which shortcuts end up costing more in the long run, and how much joy there is in seeing the garden grow — not just in size, but in maturity. What started as a tilled patch in the grass has become a real, working farm garden. And somehow, even with the weeds, the sweat, and the surprises, we’re already dreaming about what we might add next year.

Spring of 2025