Long Term Plans... Well, Maybe Goals is More Accurate

Last week I told you about the patio garden we started after a couple of years slowly building up the supplies. It wasn't completely finished, but we made a decent start on it. It still isn't done, but we're a couple steps closer to finishing our establishing goal for this year.

Here's our patio garden as of Sunday morning.

We found some Italian oregano, lavender, more rosemary and basil, lemon balm, marigolds, alliums, and geraniums this past Saturday, and those got planted super early Sunday morning. Our seed packets arrived on Friday, but we're still working on digging out and edging the chamomile garden. I'm hoping I can get it done today, so the seeds can be scattered before rain blows in tomorrow and sets in for the next week.

Most of the plants from week one have almost doubled in size. We had nine radishes sprout, and they're at the four leaf stage now. I'm beginning to have hope the rosemary topiary there in the largest pot will revive. You can't see it so well in the photo, but it's beginning to green back up now that the roots have room to spread. And one of the cucumbers out in the bulb garden is pulling through. The other one died the day after my last post.

We still need one more pack of marigolds, a couple mint plants, and to plant our garlic, but that'll be it for the summer garden.

At Hubby's urging, due to my tendency to lose sleep when plans are half unfinished, I drew up our complete micro-farm plans last week. I then labeled all the projects with their goal years. Even using the savings from our spring, summer, and fall gardens, it's clear now it will take at least ten years if not more to transform this half acre of ours.

Meet McGonagall, a local stray who seems to have adopted us this week.

By the time it's complete, our eldest will be graduating high school. Doesn't that put things into perspective!

As for how we plant to grow this place into our dream, we're going to start with the smallest, easiest, and least expensive projects first and grow from there. For instance, next year's project will be improving our home's curb appeal. We'll be adding a small ornamental garden to the front corner of our yard, which will serve for an eye catching backdrop for a Contented Comfort sign. We'll also purchase either a Japanese Maple or a Weeping Cherry to shade the kids' bedroom window. In 2017, we hope to finally build the fire pit with surrounding patio Hubby's been wanting almost as long as we've lived here. The following year, we'll build a pergola with trellises over the new patio and plant grape vines on two sides to train up and over it.

We plan to continue on that way until the whole thing finishes off with a fence lined with raised beds running the perimeter of our back and side yards. In total, we're looking at a home addition, fencing, four more ornamental beds, two patios, a walkway, widening the driveway, a pergola with grape and herb beds built in, two fruit beds, another herb garden, and four massive vegetable beds. It's going to take a while and a lot of work, but we think it will ultimately be worth it. We'll only be in our mid-forties by the time it's done by our estimations, so, with good health, we could have a full thirty to forty years working the micro-farm before it becomes too much for us to handle on our own.