This growing season has, so far, been wonderful! In the past, it's been difficult to deal with our veggie garden - it was too big, we were traveling, the weather was too dry, it was too hot... This year, however, the Beloved Husband and I seem to have gotten our part right, and God has been very gracious and given us beautiful weather.
Here's what we started with:
I ripped off Square Foot Gardening for the basic philosophy of small, raised beds, but I've done it my own way (and I don't think Mel Bartholomew will really mind, LOL). We have hard red clay in our area, but last year we tilled in a LOT of aged manure, which helped immensely. If we can keep our momentum going, in the fall we'll till in a ton more (metaphorically speaking), cover the garden (not sure with what - maybe heavy landscaping fabric), and let it age through the winter.
Here's what we have now:
Some of the beds, off to the right of the picture, are either only partially used or empty. I'm going to cover those unused areas with black plastic and killkillkillKILL! the weed and grass seeds in there. The third bed in the front has limas in it, and I'm hoping they'll do well even though they seemed to start late (note for next year: presoak the seeds!).
The lima bed has about half grass there in the front - but the nice thing about this method and the wet weather is that weeding is a breeze! I doubt I spend more than 10 minutes in the garden daily, weeding.
You can see corn in the background on the left. I've got no idea how that's going to do; we've never had much luck before, but we are seeing tassels this year, and very healthy stalks - so I'll keep hoping. The very bushy green in the middle left is my two bush zucchini plants, and I can already tell that we're going to be heartily sick of zucc before the summer ends, LOL! Barely visible in the same bed is a Better Boy (? I think) bush tomato. Maybe next year the zucc will get their own bed so the tomato has more room, but it doesn't look unhappy - just a wee bit crowded.
My basil and peppers... The basil is going gangbusters - I even have 4 or 5 little guys coming back from last year, when the basil went to seed. The pepper plants are mixed - 3 are red bell peppers, and the 4th is a jalapeño. I don't think they'll get very hot-spicy this year; they like it much drier and VERY hot. But I have harvested a couple to use in a pico de gallo, and they had pretty good flavor.
These are the last of the first batch of radishes - they were getting very leafy, so I pulled them. Another crop was planted on Sunday (I presoaked the seeds), and they've already sprouted through [happy dance]. Here is also my first cucumber, and I'm very proud of it; the ones we tried to grow in Chesapeake got too big, and were very bitter. And, of course, my first two jalapeños, which I used in the pico de gallo. I also used cilantro from my garden; it's taken off like crazy, but it's also wanting to go to seed, so I have to keep an eye on it. Hm... Or, I could get my own coriander seeds..!
My Beloved says that, since we've actually gotten real FOOD that we've actually EATEN from the garden already, that that qualifies this year's garden as a success. Me, I want to wait to say that until the late fall when we put things to bed. I figure, if we can see it all the way through one growing season, then I'll say it's a success!
I've got a lot more photos, but I'm going to post them as thumbnails; just click to embiggen!
*pout*
It's been so hot and dry, I didn't even attempt to start anything garden related, nor did Eric allow me to do so. He stated that I would have spent more time outside trying to water everything than I would have spent doing anything else. And he was right...as it is, our water bill has jumped twenty to fifty dollars in the last two months. *sigh* I love Texas, but I sure dislike the drought...
Ah well, at least I have a few things in pots. I have to have at least SOMETHING growing or I'd be a complete wreck, so I moved what few plants I have left up onto my deck where they're safe from the deer and I can pour the odd pitcher of water over them. So I have a few odd green things hanging on in the punishing heat. The more interesting ones are a pair of "volunteer" melon vines. I have no idea what they could be, only that they're very happily sprawling over the edge of a pot of spider lilies. Maybe they'll fruit out and turn out to be cantaloupes or watermelons. That'd make for a pleasant surprise!
--TwoDragons
Posted by: Denita TwoDragons | June 16, 2009 at 11:10 PM
BTW those zukes look absolutely munchable! Slice 'em down the middle, layer them in a pouch of aluminum foil, dab them with butter and a little salt and pepper, and toss them on the grill for a very brief minute or two. We did that with a couple of homegrown squash my Mom gave us from her garden, and they were mouthwatering!
--Two(drooling)Dragons
Posted by: Denita TwoDragons | June 16, 2009 at 11:13 PM
Oh, and one last thing: If you ever want to grow The Best Tomatoes In The Universe, Ever, Gua-Raun-Double-Dog-Teed, Honest--then get thyself to a nursery and find some Mortgage Lifter starts!
You won't regret it.
Trust me on this.
Need more convincing? How about massive beefy five-pound fruits, drought-tolerant, tough as nails, heirloom, indeterminate, and will keep on happily producing until frost, and you can even eke the vines through to next year if you protect them. This is a plant whose breeder managed to sell the seedlings for a dollar DURING THE FREAKING GREAT DEPRESSION! and had people scrambling across half the country to buy the plants DID I MENTION DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION? and he was able to pay off the mortgage on his house in FOUR YEARS! with the money he made. Oh--and in case it didn't sink in, THIS WAS DURING THE GREAT HONKING DEPRESSION!
A tomato that people were willing to spend an arm and a leg for? Oh yeah, it's totally worth it. Just remembering the taste of them has my mouth watering like a faucet...
--TwoDragons (remember--THE GREAT DEPRESSION!!)
Posted by: Denita TwoDragons | June 16, 2009 at 11:29 PM
What, did my ALL CAPS not grab your attention enough?! ;-)
--TwoDragons
Posted by: Denita TwoDragons | June 18, 2009 at 11:19 AM
Hehe! No, sorry - I just got distracted by dealing with RL stuff. Gotta clean house for next week. Some of my Beloved's co-workers are coming in next week, so everything needs to be spic 'n' span (where the heck does that phrase come from?!) for them. Also, I'm having a very interesting time trying to get the Munchkin to CLEAN HER ROOM!!!! Aggg.
Posted by: Kat | June 18, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Spic 'n' span apparently comes from a term meaning "new as a freshly-cut wood chip", according to the several online dictionaries I just looked up. Ahh, the power of the interwebs...
No problems, hon--I have laundry piling up downstairs and I've been volunteering at the church VBS this week...AND dealing with my Mom having gallbladder surgery (she came through just fine, though, praise the Lord!!) and adjusting to Zane's Summer School schedule...oh man, I'm worn out just recounting all that stuff... So I can sympathize! :-)
Just dangle a carrot in front of your daughter's head: her favorite food in exchange for her cleaning up her room. It seems to work for Zane...
--TwoDragons
Posted by: Denita TwoDragons | June 18, 2009 at 02:22 PM
Kat,
Looks like your garden is going great. I started one this year and am growing tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers. So far so good. The rain has made a big difference, I think.
My strawberries are being eaten by something, despite being covered by chicken-wire boxes. I probably should have put down some pesticide.
Next year, expansion. I have to fertilize again in about a month. I was lazy and just bought pre-treated garden soil. While there are plenty of Democrats in Hampton Roads, the manure is only a metaphor, not a reality; so, I still have to go to the home center to get the real thing.
Please keep posting...especially about how to put the "garden to bed" for the year. I have no idea how to do that.
Posted by: J.R. Hoeft | June 19, 2009 at 09:00 AM
Hey, Jim - yeah Hampton Roads would be a difficult place to find manure - but I know my old neighbors on Beaver Dam probably have some they'd love to get rid of. They're not too far away from you, so if you have a trailer or something you might be able to get some from them. Well-aged, too.
To close this fall, we're going to add a lot more manure to our garden and till everything under. Then, we'll cover it with either some heavy duty tarps (plastic, not cloth) or landscape fabric. When we open it back up in the spring and re-till, everything should have broken down nicely, and I HOPE that I will then be able to make permanent beds, and we won't have to re-till every year. We'll see how it goes...
Posted by: Kat | June 19, 2009 at 11:18 AM
Hi dear friend. I've not planted a garden for many a year, but reading your post brought back many, many memories of the good variety (heh, and some, of sunburn and aching back not so good.)
Terms like "going to leaf" I had completely forgotten. Maybe in a few years when I retire with the grandson we can plant a garden together.
Posted by: GM Roper | June 20, 2009 at 08:20 AM
I just realized--and am ashamed to admit--after reading my posts above...if I evangelized Jesus as much as I evangelized Mortgage Lifters, I'd probably out-Spurgeon Spurgeon. I sincerely apologize. Maybe it's time I should start putting into practice my zeal for Christ as much as I show zeal for heirloom tomatoes.
*shakes head at self*
--TwoDragons
Posted by: Denita TwoDragons | June 20, 2009 at 10:23 AM
LOL! No worries, Denita ;-)
--- Kat
www.CatHouseChat.com
"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." (Ephesians 4:29)
Posted by: Kat | June 20, 2009 at 10:25 AM