2024 Garden Project List

Every year I like to create a list of projects that I hope to complete. I don’t know that it has ever been a truly realistic list. Which means I probably put more projects on the list than time will allow. Since we have a new house and a new garden we have a big list of potential projects that I would like to eventually accomplish. I’m going to “attempt” to keep it reasonable!

These garden projects are in no particular order. They will just get done whenever I can get to them!

Vegetable Garden Fence

We have deer and turkey all around us which means we have to protect the vegetable garden from critter incursions! The first step to protecting the vegetable garden from deer will be surrounding it with a fence. For this version the garden will be about 40ft x 40ft and the fence will be a simple wire mesh fence on metal U posts. I’ll be using 6ft U posts around the garden. Technically to prevent deer from jumping over a fence you need a height of 8ft. Fortunately deer are creatures of habit and opportunity and if you prevent them from entering an area they will go toward easier grazing. Turkey can fly so they may be more difficult to keep out but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

Grow an Amazing Vegetable Garden!

At least that is what I hope. The vegetable garden area will be about 40ft x40 ft as I mentioned but I don’t plan to do it all at once. My first year focus will be on enough beds to reasonably grow food to enhance our lives. I’m not trying to replace the grocery store or anything. I would like to have enough produce to do some canning and setup a small root cellar in our crawl space. Tomatoes and peppers are what we grow every year without fail. Beyond that we will fill in various herbs and leafy greens. I tend to also grow potatoes and sweet potatoes as they are always enjoyed by our family.

Seed Starting Set Up

In the past I’ve used 4ft long wire shelves with heat mats and shop lights in a garage to get my seeds started. Our new house has a crawl space area that is very tall. In some areas it’s more basement than crawl space. We had the electrician install electrical outlets and I’ll be able to do my seed starting down there. I’ve already purchased a new set of plastic shelves to use in that area and soon I hope to get that area set up as a “plant lab” for seed starting and plant propagation.

I would like to continue seed starting throughout the year to incorporate more perennials into the garden. I can probably keep things growing to plant through May. I’ll be able to use this area to pre-start fall crops to plant out in the garden in August and September.

Landscape the Front Garden

We chose to leave out any builder planted plantings in the front garden. Mostly because that’s an area I want to plan and take my time with. Throughout this year as we find plants we like and want to put in we’ll add them to the garden.

Create Dry Creek Beds for Rain Drainage

Water is an important thing to manage around every landscape. The dry creek beds I put in at our old home did a good job of directing the water away from the house. I have several locations around our new house that would make great places to put in some dry creek beds for rain drainage.

Build a Firepit

With all the rock that was excavated around the house we have lots of material to build a great firepit area. I would like to make a large one in the backyard with a sitting area around it. I may need to rent a bobcat or something similar to move some of these rocks. We’ll see how it goes. The firepit project is lower on the list of garden project priorities.

Build Raised Beds

As I can I would like to put together new raised beds for the new vegetable garden. The ideal raised beds will be about 10-12 inches tall. Metal raised beds are very cool but can be pricey so initially we will probably go lower cost and go with materials we have on hand or are easily attainable. I have a number of 4×4 posts that have been damaged by woodpeckers at the old house I plan to move and reuse as raised bed sides. They were pressure treated but have been in the elements for years and should be safe to use for edible plants.

As the garden continues to evolve we’ll upgrade and update the garden with better raised beds.

Make a New Compost Bin

During the house build process a number of materials were delivered on pallets which we kept. Pallets can make some easy to assemble compost bins. I’m planning a 3 bin system to put near the vegetable garden. You can never have enough compost!

Build a New Shed

My old shed was such a great project. My dad and I put it together and I count myself so fortunate to have had those days with him. It wasn’t very long after that where he developed esophageal cancer and passed away. I’ll miss that shed because of my dad but I know it’s only a building and the memories of working on it will always be in my memory. My kids are older now and could definitely lend a hand on building the new shed. We’ll make some new memories and skills for them to hold onto.

The shed needs to be able to hold our garden power tools, mowers, weed eaters, tillers, etc. I’m not concerned with it being a potting shed right now. That project may be down the road or I may opt for a greenhouse/shade house for those types of activities.

Will I realistically be able to do all of these garden projects? Probably not but little by little we’ll get these garden projects completed or at least started! Don’t forget to subscribe to the Growing The Home Garden YouTube Channel for all the projects and related video content!