Hobbit Garden—Spring 2023

You might remember this series from my old blog and I am hoping it will become a regular—sharing the details and growth of our little garden through the seasons. This post has been a long time coming as we’ve had many things getting in the way of our gardening time and the fact we are rebuilding our garden from the ground up.

For a wedding gift, my parents had our lawns redone so we decided to turn our side yard into our garden. The first thing we wanted was something to create more privacy so we settled on blackberry bushes. We have two types, Triple Crowns and Prime-Ark Freedom, and they have been very happy in the bed Kyle built, yielding a bunch of blooms that have started to fruit. The grass and weeds are trying to make a comeback so we will probably have to lay down some more mulch.

Next, Kyle installed a watering system before designing and building two of the three raised beds we have laid out. We have started to fill one, but it takes about 60 cubic feet of soil so it is slow going. By the time this post is up, we will probably have the first bed filled and ready for planting. We’ve decided this will be the herb bed and my dad has already got us some basil starters from the farmers market. We will also be adding oregano, thyme, and parsley.

Things we are hoping to eventually plant in the other beds are garlic, red onions, carrots, beets, broccoli and lettuce as well as give our potato buckets another try. My parents also had some leftover bricks from getting their front lawn redone and we are going to use some of them to create a lower, longer bed for growing things like watermelon and pumpkins. I also marked out a spot to be a sweet pea bed. Other additions we will be adding is an above-ground composter, a bench, and eventually paving for the paths. We need to re-setup our bird feeder and birdbath as well before the summer heat starts.

With the yard revamp, we got a bunch of new plants put in, including tons of rosemary and lavender bushes, a sage, two bay trees and three citrus trees, two lemon and a lime. Everything has been really happy, growing a considerable amount in just three months. Additions we want to add are a butterfly bush and maybe a cherry tree.

While we replanted some mint from our old bed, a bunch of mint has grown back in a number of places.

We still have the back bed with its new bushes and creeping fig that will hopefully one day cover the wall. We transplanted some nasturtiums, scattered some wild flower seeds and planted some alyssum and snapdragon starters. As you can tell, everything has taken off. It has been a constant battle against the weeds and the grass trying to comeback, but we are really happy with our flower bed. There is also a perfect spot in the corner where we are going to re-plant our own little bay tree.

Another thing that has grown is our collection of garden dragons and gnomes. They are all in the backyard right now until we get the garden fully set up.

This one by the dog run is a favorite.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour/plan for our hobbit garden. We will have more to show you come summertime and keep an eye for sneak peaks in my Instagram story.