One of the challenges of living in the woods is that it is difficult to find a spot that has enough sun for growing vegetables. This year we decided to try raised beds in a clearing up the hill from the house. My husband and son built two beds and we have planted tomatoes, peppers, and okra in the raised beds. We also have some zucchini and herbs in another area closer to the house.

We love raspberries and although we can buy fresh berries from a large orchard near our house, we decided to also try our hand at growing red raspberries.

My husband’s German mother used to also grow red currants and made wonderful raspberry-currant jelly. While red currants can’t be grown in some areas due to disease, we were able to buy plants to we are giving them a try, also.

Our soil is red clay full of rocks – which is not very conducive to gardening. The raised beds allowed us to bring in a richer soil and mix it with shredded leaf compost. We added a lot of compost to the rows for the raspberries and currents.

The challenge will be to see if the plants survive the woodchucks, deer and other critters. We added a couple of soaker hoses on a timer to help keep things watered as the weather gets warmer. This involved running several long hoses up the hill to reach the planting area.

So if we we can keep the animals away, cut a few more trees so there is plenty of light and keep everything watered, we will be picking fresh veggies and berries in a couple of months!