Our Garden Beginnings: From Costco Pots to a High Tunnel Dream

I was fascinated with the idea of having a garden for quite a while. I really wanted one — and honestly, my gardening beginnings were very small.

Each year, Costco sells those giant flower pots, and my very first “garden” was essentially four of those.

We are proof that you can learn new things as adults. I'm embarassed to tell you about my first garden. Yes, its that bad. I happily filled my new pots with bags of soil, put them on our deck on the north side of our house, and entirely failed to drill holes in the botom of the pots for drainage. Drainage? 6-8 hours of sunlight? I never thought to even consider these things! Some of us learn by failing and that was definetly what I did that year.

My grandpa grew up the son of potato farmers in Northern Michigan. When he came to visit that year and saw my pitiful garden attempt I proudly told him I was trying to grow a potato. He asked if I had put the eyes up. Eyes? What eyes? Yes, it really was that bad. For shame and embarsement. What can be lost in a generation or two! Ha! Thankfully, we have learned to grow something other than a pot full of water-logged soil, and you can too!

Fast forward a few years and we moved those same pots to a house where I actually put them in some sunshine, drilled the much needed drainage holes, and we had our first little garden. It was small, but it definetly lit the fire for me that I wanted to grow more of our own veggies. I could only grow a few things, but I loved it. The more I grew, the more I wanted to grow.

What surprised me most was how alive Scripture suddenly felt.

Seeds, watering, growth, patience, harvest, pruning — so many things Jesus spoke about began to make sense in a new and tangible way once I actually started putting plants into the ground and caring for them myself.

My heart longed for more growing space, but for a few years, it simply didn’t happen. Every time I tried to make a larger garden work, it seemed to fall apart before it could really begin.

Then, in 2020, the Lord opened the door.

I was able to begin staying home with my children, and during that season, my husband watched the food supply chain become interrupted in a way I don’t think either of us imagined was possible. Suddenly, a garden no longer felt like a hobby or liability — it felt important.

We figured out practical things, like putting sprinklers on timers so we could still leave to go fishing while keeping a garden alive. Little by little, space was carved out in our lives for something that had been on my heart for years.

That year, we built our very first raised bed.

And from there, my love of trying different gardening methods truly began.

As I started building this garden section for our website, I found myself hesitating. I kept thinking:

I am by no means a gardening expert.

I still talk to people who know far more than I do, and honestly, I often still feel like a novice myself.

But eventually, I realized something important.

I may not be a professional gardener, but I have tried a lot of things.

And maybe that experience is valuable too.

Straw Bale Gardening

One of the first alternative gardening methods I tried was straw bale gardening.

If you decide to try this method, the most important thing I learned is this:

You absolutely need a high-nitrogen fertilizer to begin the conditioning process.

If you want the straw bales to properly break down and become a productive growing medium, nitrogen is crucial. The conditioning process takes around 12 days before planting can begin.

Honestly, I had a lot of success with straw bale gardening, and I would absolutely do it again.

My potatoes especially did wonderfully in the bales. Even as a beginner gardener, I was able to get a really satisfying harvest.

One thing I also appreciated about this method was that once the season was over, the broken-down bales became useful material for future gardening projects instead of simply going to waste.

Lasagna Gardening

Another method I experimented with was lasagna gardening.

Using natural materials from around our property, I layered things like banana peels, eggshells, partially broken-down straw bales, and organic matter into long growing rows.

I also managed to get bunny manure and chicken manure from a friend, which gave everything an incredible boost.

To my surprise, these rows performed really well.

They held moisture nicely, grew healthy plants, and felt like a very natural way to build soil over time.

This is another gardening method I would gladly use again.

Classic Raised Beds

Our first official raised bed was built by my husband, and we filled it with a high-quality mix of coconut coir, soil, and compost.

Everything grew beautifully.

Our carrots did especially well, and the soil quality was fantastic.

Looking back, I probably wasted some of that precious bed space by planting potatoes there instead of crops that would have benefited more from such rich soil. But honestly, that’s part of gardening — you learn as you go.

If someone asked me for one reliable, beginner-friendly gardening method for a small space, I would absolutely recommend a classic raised bed with quality soil.

It’s simple, productive, and rewarding.

Bucket Gardening at a Rental Property

For those who know a little of our family story, you know there were a few years where life felt somewhat “in-between” for us.

During that season, gardening in buckets became my option.

And I want to say this clearly:

Gardening at a rental property is absolutely possible.

No, it may not feel quite as magical as having a huge dream garden, but it is still deeply worthwhile.

If buckets are the space the Lord has given you right now, then grow in buckets.

Five-gallon food-grade buckets from restaurants work wonderfully. Drill a few drainage holes in the bottom, fill them with potting soil, and start growing.

Lettuce, peas, herbs, carrots — all of these can do surprisingly well in containers.

And there is something deeply satisfying about walking outside and grabbing food that you grew yourself.

Even in small spaces. Even in temporary seasons.

Discovering Back to Eden Gardening

When we moved to our new home, I came across the documentary Back to Eden.

If you’ve never watched it before, honestly, stop reading this and go watch it.

I still can’t decide whether it’s a gardening documentary or a sermon.

For the past several years, I’ve watched it at least once every gardening season, and every single time it inspires me all over again.

It tells the story of someone who hears the Lord, obeys Him in practical ways, and generously shares both knowledge and abundance with others.

That documentary absolutely captured my imagination.

I tend to be the type of person who goes “all in” when something truly grabs my attention, and Back to Eden gardening definitely did that for me.

I dreamed of creating a huge garden.

But during our first year at our new house, that simply wasn’t realistic. We had just moved, were coming out of an exhausting season of life, and had four young children.

Still, thankfully, we were able to build something.

Using leftover boards and old beds we hadn’t even assembled at our previous house, we created a small little garden space.

And honestly?

It was wonderful.

We used inexpensive bagged compost from the store and covered the beds with leaves and natural material gathered around our property.

I was genuinely shocked by how well everything grew.

That tiny garden allowed me to experiment with Back to Eden gardening before attempting it on a much larger scale.

It was beautiful, peaceful, productive, and deeply life-giving during the bright Alaska summer months.

The Garden I Never Imagined We’d Have

For years, my dream garden was something around 400–500 square feet.

Maybe someday, I thought, we could even have a little greenhouse.

Because if you want to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, or peppers in Alaska, you really need some kind of protected growing space. It’s simply necessary if you want a worthwhile harvest.

But I never imagined we would own a high tunnel.

That felt completely beyond us.

Then one day, our cousins — who are truly incredible gardeners — mentioned they were planning to sell their “small” high tunnel.

Their small tunnel happened to be 48 feet by 14 feet.

My husband casually mentioned that if they ever sold it, they should let us know.

I honestly couldn’t believe it.

Was he seriously considering buying me a high tunnel?

It felt far beyond anything I had imagined possible.

And somehow, the Lord opened the door.

Not only did we purchase the tunnel, but my husband built what I genuinely think is one of the best-designed high tunnel setups I’ve ever seen.

I tend to lean toward GETMO — “good enough to move on.”

My husband, however, does everything with excellence far beyond what is expected or even necessary.

We built a gravel base, covered the entire area with weed barrier, and installed metal beds in the center section.

Quick warning: don’t try combining multiple metal beds into one giant bed while using all the support systems.

Ask me how I know.

There was a lot of screwing and unscrewing involved in learning that lesson.

Around the outside horseshoe section, my husband built custom lumber beds designed to maximize every square inch of growing space while still allowing the tunnel to feel easy and practical to move through.

I absolutely love the final layout.

Our Soil and Fertilizer Approach

For the beds themselves, we continued using the Back to Eden method.

We filled the bottoms with soil and topped them heavily with partially composted wood chips sourced locally.

Our chips are definitely chunkier than what Back to Eden technically recommends, but honestly, they’ve broken down surprisingly well, and I would absolutely use them again.

The tunnel grew beautifully in its very first year, and I expect the soil to only improve over time.

I use a lot of organic fertilizers, but I’ll also be honest and say I’m not strictly organic.

Because our growing season is short, I do supplement with some conventional fertilizers as well. In Alaska, plants truly need every advantage they can get to produce within such a limited season.

That’s not to say fully organic gardening isn’t possible here — there are definitely people doing it beautifully, and honestly, they’re my heroes.

But for our family, this balance makes sense.

And even with a mixed approach, homegrown food tastes infinitely better than store-bought food here in Alaska.

After growing cucumbers in abundance last summer, I could barely tolerate buying them from the grocery store again.

Fresh produce here often travels for over a week by barge before reaching shelves, and you can absolutely taste the difference.

Having fresh herbs, vegetables, and food growing just outside our door has changed the way we eat entirely.

We eat healthier. We eat more colorfully. And we naturally reach for fresh ingredients because they’re right there within arm’s reach.

What I’m Learning This Year

This year, I’m especially focused on improving our root crop growing.

The heavier wood-chip soil works wonderfully for many things, but it’s a little too chunky for carrots — and we absolutely love carrots.

So this season, I’m experimenting with a mix of sand, compost, and peat specifically for root crops.

Right now, I even have some carrots started in buckets while I test different approaches.

And honestly, that’s part of what gardening has become for me:

Trying things. Learning. Adjusting. Growing.

No matter what kind of space the Lord gives you — whether it’s Costco pots on a front porch, buckets at a rental property, raised beds in the backyard, or a dream garden you never thought you’d have — I truly believe it’s worth trying to grow something.

Because once you place a seed in the ground, water it carefully, patiently wait, and realize that ultimately only God can bring the growth…

Scripture comes alive in a completely different way.