Garden Update

The 3 tomato plants that I put outside earliest, protected in their wall-o-waters are of course doing the best. I've -also got tomatoes growing in a 5 gallon bucket, a  large dishpan, a make-shift Topsy Turvy, and there's even still one on my kitchen windowsill.


So, tomatoes are a large part of my garden, but I've got lots of other stuff coming along too. Here's the main "Square Foot Garden" section of my horticultural adventure.

I know, you're saying, yep, it's a bunch of green stuff. So, on the left, is a wagon with the 5-gallon bucket and dish pan of tomatoes. They are in the wagon so that in the case of severe weather, I can roll them into the garage for protection. 

Next in from the left are my best tomato plants, some spinach, rosemary, cilantro, a tomato plant that took a lot of abuse in a storm, a bush zucchini plant and some cucumber vines that have a long way to go. The zucchini plant appears to have a female flower forming, if it works the same way as pumpkins, but I haven't done zukes before, so no idea really, and too busy to google. 

The white area in the middle is my compost pile. 

The box on the right has Mint Gone Wild, chocolate mint, an ornamental gourd section, strawberry plants, peas and beans. 

With any luck that  trellis on the right will be fully covered in pea plants. It should have been peas and beans, but oops, I planted bush beans....

Today I finally bought materials for another trellis for the box on the left. The one on the right is 6 feet tall. The new one for the left is going to be 7 feet tall. Tomatoes are crazy.

Next is the Ghetto Garden.  It's next to the shed and behind the dumpster. REALLY prime real estate. This was possibly a sand box area for the last people who owned this house. When we moved in it was a litter box for the local cats. I mulched it with grass clippings for the last couple years hoping it would improve or grow grass or something, but it hasn't really. 

I knew my Giant Pumpkin Plant would need LOTS of room, so I put it over here, knowing that without good dirt, I'm not going to grow any incredibly impressive pumpkins, but I should get some good enough for the kids for halloween. It's had male flowers for a couple months but just finally got a couple female flowers starting to form. I've mulched heavily with grass clippings, hoping that will keep moisture in the sand. At first I wasn't using Miracle Grow. I was just hoping it would grow, but it wasn't growing, so I started putting 2.5 gallons of Miracle-Gro treated water on it every day and it's really taking off. 

Inside the white fence is supposed to be flowers,but it looks to me like weeds. I've decided to just let whatever happens happen in there. The white tube with the flower pot on it is a worm tube composting system experiment.

Beyond the white fence, there is a reusable shopping bag growing potatoes, and a potting soil bag doing the same. Beyond those potato bags is a green plastic tub full of rabbit manure. Gosh, each piece of the Ghetto Garden could be its own blog post. Ok, eventually. 

Next up is my attempt at increasing curb appeal.

 

Some genius put rocks all around this side of the house. Just a bed of rocks. No plants, no big rocks, nothing. This corner was especially ugly. So, I took a random plastic bin that I had scavenged from a trash pile long ago, drilled holes in it, and filled it with potting soil, to make a raised bed. The bin is Sparkly Pink, so I had to camouflage it somehow, and these logs from the historic cottonwood tree did just the trick. 

The pine branch leaning against the wall will hopefully be covered in flowering vines...if the growing season is long enough. 

A neighbor was nice enough to let me take as many of his Hens and Chicks as I wanted, so I took a bunch of them and planted them along the side, along with some other succulents that I bought. 

There's another couple pots of not so beautiful stuff, so I won't bother to show them. Carrot tops are not very exciting!!  

So, that's where my garden stands as of July 6, 2010!