Starting My First Garden in the Country
Discover how I built my first garden in the country while raising a newborn and toddler. Follow my journey from planning and soil preparation to planting with regenerative gardening methods.
Laura Pelletier
7/21/20263 min read
Starting My First Garden in the Country
I built my very first country garden with a one-month-old baby on my hip and a toddler at my feet.
"Should I do a smaller garden? My baby will be so young... But I really want to do this. I'm going for it."
Those thoughts played over and over in my mind all winter as I planned my first country garden.
I was very pregnant and chasing a toddler, so I wondered if a large garden was even realistic.
When spring finally arrived, the garden prep began with a one-month-old baby and a sixteen-and-a-half-month-old toddler.
Some days my baby slept peacefully while my toddler happily played nearby as I moved logs, spread compost, or moved mulch. Other days I worked for three minutes before one of them desperately needed their mama. So the garden prep continued one-handed, one nap at a time, and often one small project at a time.
I told myself that I was going to be conservative. But my happy heart suddenly had more space to plant and grow a garden than ever before, and my vision just kept expanding.
When you finally get the home in the country that you've always dreamed of, it's hard not to dream big—even when your hands are already completely full!
STEP 1 – Getting Started
Putting Up a Fence
I actually started this step long before my baby was born. When we moved to the country last summer, we repositioned our horse fence to outline the space that would become my future garden.
If you know anything about horse fencing, you know it wasn't going to keep many critters out of my garden. So this spring I attached chicken wire with zip ties and secured the bottom with garden staples.
STEP 2 – Space Preparation
Weed Management • Soil Amending • Water Retention
We have two children now, but Lord willing, we'd love to have more little blessings running around in the future.
Constant weeding, watering, and babying my garden simply wasn't going to be a sustainable option for this mama—at least not until the kiddos are older. 😀
I chose to use a method called regenerative gardening. It focuses on building healthy soil naturally while disturbing it as little as possible. Here are the main pillars of this system:
No-till soil – I left the soil undisturbed.
Keep the ground covered – I used cardboard and thick mulch.
Maintain living roots – I planted wherever I could.
Maximize plant diversity – That's a goal for next season.
Avoid synthetic chemicals – Our garden is completely chemical-free.
What Did This Look Like Practically?
The first challenge was finding enough cardboard. I made countless trips to our local Dollar General, collecting boxes.
The Weed Barrier: I laid several layers across the entire garden to act as a barrier that will eventually decompose into the soil.
The Beds: I lined them with logs to help retain moisture, then added truckloads of compost on top of the cardboard.
The Finish: Finally, I covered everything with several more truckloads of mulch to suppress weeds and continue improving the soil over time.
Sourcing all of the materials and getting everything into place was incredibly difficult. But I knew that if I put in the hard work this year, I'd be thankful later. My goal was to create a garden that would require less weeding, less watering, and healthier soil for years to come—all of the things gardeners hope for.
STEP 3 – Planting
Bending over countless times to plant while holding a fourteen-pound baby is hard. But listening to my baby cry because he wants his mama is much harder.
So nearly all of my planting happened with a baby on my hip while reminding a curious toddler not to wander where I couldn't see her.
Although the grand plans I had for my garden didn't all come to be this year, I was able to get a few essentials into the ground.
More importantly, I built a strong foundation for the future—a garden with fewer weeds, less watering, and, Lord willing, many years of growing ahead.
A Final Thought ⭐
At the end of the day, gardening and motherhood both require faith—faith that today's preparation, care, and direction will bear fruit in time.
Gardens aren't built in a day—or even a season—and neither are families.
Both require patience, faithful work, and trust in the God who gives the increase.
I pray that the work I am doing now will not only help my garden flourish but will also encourage my children to work hard, delight in God's creation, and remember that every good gift comes from Him.
May this little country garden be more than a place where vegetables grow. May it be a place where lessons are learned, faith is strengthened, and our family is reminded that God is faithful to provide both a place to work and a harvest to enjoy.
