Vegetable Garden '05
The garden has been
expanded every year since it's beginning in 2002 (except for 2003 when I was
pregnant), when it was just an 8x8 square (64 sq feet). Dan and I just
finished expanding it again. It's about 24 x 8 now. I like the small
depth. You can almost reach to the middle from the edge, which really
helps harvesting and weeding.
The vegetable garden was started
back in April, when the radishes were planted. Green peppers and several
tomato varieties were also started by seed in the breezeway. The tomatoes
reaches a certain stage and fizzled out. So, for now on, we will not
be doing tomatoes from seed.
In May, we had spinach and
lettuce. We're still harvesting lettuce, but the spinach is done.
Beans, cucumber, zucchini and butternut squash were planted the end of May
Corn and pumpkin were planted
June 4th after we finished expanding. We'll probably have September corn
instead of in August.
We thought we'd be out of
tomatoes, when on June 13th, Scott, our neighbor, asked if we had some room left
in the garden. He came out with about six tomato plants. He won't
have time this year to garden with his work schedule. Those were planted
as well as the peppers, which were still in the starter planters.
We used parts from Dan's old
futon frame to use for trellising for the cucumbers and zucchini.
The biggest problem we have with
the garden is wild flowers attempting to grow. Not even paying attention
or thinking about it, we put old wild flower stalks in the garden the fall of
2002. Anyway, the seeds from those got into the garden. Nothing
maintenance wise was done in 2003, so we had a wild flower and tomato garden.
The tomatoes came up by themselves. It's hard to stay one step ahead of
the wild flowers.
So now, we sit and watch 'er grow
and continue yanking weeds.
I'll get a picture out soon.
Update Oct '05....
The garden for the most
part was a big disappointment. Even though we kept it watered,
the heat really got to it. We harvested a whopping four small
ears of corn out of the five rows we had planted. The beans were
eaten by aphids, zucchini was taken over by root rot and cucumbers
were just odd...they immediately turned orange and grew as wide as
tall...those were supposed to be pickling cucumbers. We only
have one butternut squash that's not enough to feed our family one
meal...might make lunch for me. We do have four pumpkins, but
not big enough to carve. Those were supposed to be carving
pumpkins. We do have a decent tomato crop, but the big problem
is that they're not turning red as quick as they should. Now
that the weather is getting cooler, the chance of the rest turning is
slim.
Here's pictures of the
garden back in June.
And in July...
Flowers '05
Most of our flowers are
wild flowers. We do have four hostas, one peony and a bush that has yellow
flowers. There are daffodils and crocus' that come up in the spring.
There was an attempt to start petunia from seed (didn't work). The late
May frost took out the morning glories. We also have a Peace and a Mr.
Lincoln rose bush. We thought Mr. Lincoln died out, but he's making a
return. The Marigolds we planted in front of the rose bushes last year
made a surprising return.
Mom Willis bought me Lily of the
Valley roots for my birthday. Those were planted in April around the trees
on the Fourth Street side (south side) and a few along the front of the house.
They started coming up, but I think I'm needing to find something (probably
luck), to help against the squirrels and rabbits.
This year, we bought wild flower
seed for the shady areas. The front of the house sees at least 80% shade
during the day. A portion of the north side only sees morning light.
The west side of the house has
been a problem area getting things to grow. There used to be pea gravel,
3-4 inches deep. It's been difficult getting rid of that. Next year,
I may try some PH testing. We do have some of the shade wild flowers and
lily of the valleys growing, which is promising.
Now, we're dealing with dry
conditions. Most of the rain goes to the north and south. Most
cases, there will be decent rain (at least some rain), heading our way. It
will literally vanish and redevelop just to our east. Some folks say it is
because we are in a valley.
Update Oct '05....
The flowers were just
as disappointing as the vegetables. The Lilies of the Valley
never came up. We did have a few wild flowers appear. So,
the heat took it's toll on the flowers also. So, better luck
next year.
Here's some of the
flowers we did have...
Here's what the yellow
flowered bush looks like (I forgot what it is called). The poor
thing didn't have a good year either. Usually the flowers last a
few weeks. This year, I don't think they lasted a week!
Here's what the grass
looked like in July. It did green up a bit in August, but
quickly went dormant again. It completely came back in
middle-late September after a few soaking rains.
Click here to E-Mail me.
Number of visits
to my page:
