The little garden is thriving… there’s really very few things that make me happier than digging around in my yard dirt. This is the garden as of yesterday:
The tomatoes, zucchini squash, & banana peppers are doing quite nicely. The bell peppers seem to be struggling, however — the leaves are holey, and it appears that bugs have been snacking on them. I tried potatoes for the first time this year… 6 reds and 6 whites. All the white potatoes are growing, but two of the reds didn’t make it. I dug them up yesterday, and the eyes never sprouted for some reason. Weird.
*Side note: potatoes are SO freakin’ easy to grow. You just wait until the ones in your pantry start sprouting “eyes”, cut them up with approx. two eyes per chunk, and pop them in the ground about 3-4 inches under the surface. About 1-2 wks later, *VOILA*, teeny potatoes plants are appearing.
Jury’s still out on the raised bed vs. row debate. Bobby built the one “test” bed (click here for our shopping list), but I also did raised rows, which you can kinda see in the picture below. Basically I just piled the dirt up to increase drainage and to also create paths between the rows so I have full access to all the plants. I raked leaves, and used them to line the paths, thus eliminating the problem of muddy shoes.
I also cut grass for the first time yesterday. This job has always fallen under Bobby’s responsibilities, but he’s been busy, and I was feeling ambitious yesterday. We have a relatively small yard (0.25 acre, which is big for the city, but tiny compared to the country where I grew up), so we have only a push mower. Did the yard and was still feeling sassy, so I heading outside the back fence (you can kinda see it in the pic above), and attacked the waist-high weeds back there as well. My trusty mower was a bit reluctant, but together we prevailed.
HeatherW said
I have aspirations of growing a veggie garden in our new house. Ok, in the garden, not the house. Duh. It just seems like something every good Southern girl should do. Plus, both sets of g-parents had them, growing everything from tomatoes & peppers, to watermelons & cantaloupes. How I wish I had the inborn knowledge (and money) to do all I want. I may ask you for advice/help whenever I get started in the next few weeks. I hope you don’t mind! My ambitions now are small: a few tomatoes, maybe some lettuces, squash, beans. Maybe even a blueberry bush or two. We have a small fenced in area w/in our fenced in yard, so I think that will be a perfect place for a garden (plus, it keeps the dogs from traipsing through it or peeing on it). Anyway – yours looks fantastic! Know that I’m jealous & will be reading closely for updates! :-D
Brad said
Great job on the garden. Gardening is an undervalued skill. I have been meaning to try to grow some veggies on our humble porch (hey, you can only work with what you’ve got!), but your progress is impressive. I’ll pick your brain about perils/pitfalls/successes come this winter after the verdict is in for you on how things have gone.
the misfit said
That is an IMPRESSIVE garden. Did you grow the tomatoes and squash and things from SEEDS? I mean, I know I seeded too early, but my biggest (and maybe only) squash plant is maybe three inches tall. And I haven’t got remotely the garden architecture that you have. Maybe I can gain some skills and roll out a more impressive setup once we buy our own place (cross fingers).
Discoveries « Standard Chaos said
[...] last thought, I was reading on my friend Sarah’s blog that she is in the testing phases of gardening via raised bed or planting rows. I have found an [...]