Ok, it’s been a while since I did a garden update & it’s about time I gave you one! Even though we have a ton of work to do in the garden since it’s our first “real year” having a garden, we have made a ton of progress though & I wanted to show you guys a big part of that today here on the blog. One big decision we made was to do mostly raised beds here in the garden & there are pros & cons to doing that & I wanted to share that with you guys today now that we are all planted & up & running here in our garden…

First things first we worked with Tractor Supply Company on this project which was a huge blessing in making our garden what it is today. As you know, we love Tractor Supply Company here on White Cottage Farm. We are almost there daily. I’m being serious. Luckily one is located right next to our store which makes stopping in pretty easy, but we get everything from Animal feed, chickens, grass seed, yard decor, farm accessories, & so much more. Well, earlier this spring when we were planning the garden out we made the decision to do raised beds in our garden & we decided to use stock tanks from TSC [Here] & I’m so thankful we did for all of these reasons…

 

Pros-

Longer season- Having raised beds extends your growing season because your soil isn’t frozen in the ground & a raised bed heats up faster than the ground soil in the spring & stays warmer in the fall.

Better soil- You can manipulate the soil in your raised beds to your liking & your climate needs. If your soil is rocky, contaminated, not suited to plant, raised beds are your answer because you can put fresh soil in them to your liking to make it the perfect growing environment for you.

Less weeds- This is my favorite part. I don’t have time to pick weeds daily though I wish I had time like that, I still wouldn’t want to pick weeds. Raised beds in stock tanks obviously smother the weeds from the soil below & if weeds do start growing in the raised beds the soil is loose and easy to pick.

Easier to Maintain- Raised beds are easy to work on being higher up, less bending over, less weeding, easier spacing of rows & walkways, and easy setup every year for planting.

Looks clean & neat- The look of raised beds looks clean and neat with perfect spacing and boarders. Everything looks uniformed naturally which is super easy to obtain with the stock tanks.

 

Here are a few cons of using stock tanks as raised beds for those considering it…

 

Cons-

Initial cost- The initial cost of raised beds is a lot depending on how many you want to do whether you want to do stock tanks or build some out of wood, but to me the pros outweighed the cost of the raised beds.

Climate- If you have a hot/dry comment the soil can dry out quickly so you really have to stay on top of watering.

Stickers- Honestly the look of the stock tanks is great, but I’ve been working on removing the stickers & I’m kind of excited for them to rust and age a little to really fit our look, but for now… I’ll be working on the look of them.

I planted a little later than I wanted to, but things are starting to grow, blossom, & bloom here in the garden & to be honest… It needs a lot more work as far as cleaning up & more designing, but for our first year here in the garden… I’m thrilled with our progress & I’m so excited to bring more of our vision to life! My favorite part is how low maintenance these stock tanks have made our garden. I have to add that TSC offered great service when we picked these tanks up by helping us load them & pick out the best ones for our garden. If you are thinking of raised beds I highly recommend going this route and checking out the tanks at your local TSC. I hope you guys liked this little update of our garden.. I promise to be back with an update very soon with more progress as we continue making this garden a little dream of ours.

 

More of my garden posts…

Checko out our DIY garden shed [HERE]

The ultimate plant lady wish list [HERE]