Monday, August 26, 2013

~Garden Update~

The last two years, we had a spot at a community garden. When they raised their prices, we started looking for a different community garden. But the others were just too far away. So then we discussed our yard. While it isn't "perfect" it has been a great option for us. Our back yard is too shaded, so the only option was our side yard.

This picture was taken about a month or so ago, but it gives a good idea of what our garden is doing:

 
Unfortunately, the soil at the very back was not very supportive for the crops we had, so our yield for that area was not that great. The zucchini and corn have been taken out. The green beans had a slow start but are now producing well. We have three varieties of tomatoes which are all doing well, plus a cherry tomato. I've been canning and putting up tomatoes like crazy. The peppers went bonkers, as have the tomatillos. We tried a new variety of bean this year, a golden bean, and they have produced well also. Our cucumbers didn't do very well, in fact I ended up buying a peck of cucumbers so I could get the pickles I wanted.
 
The radishes, carrots, green onions, and sugar peas all did well this spring. We talked about planting more for reaping in the fall, but we didn't do that this year. Maybe next!
 
All in all, it has been a good first year of gardening from our yard! Next year, we hope to build raised beds and bring in some good soil, enhancing it with compost from our compost bin.
 
Our weather this summer has been very cool, so some plants have been quite slow to produce. But that's ok - if the tomatoes were coming on any faster I would go crazy. ;-)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ya garden where ya can....we had a tiny container garden.

Deb said...

Tammy, Great!! Your garden looks just fine by the side of the house--it works! Hannah has been doing tons of tomatoes, too, today making salsa. She's beat! Canning and freezing takes a lot of work. I'm on the pea shelling and green bean frenching crew. :) At least that's a sit-down job!

Unknown said...

We also garden in our side yard as our backyard is very shady. Our weather has been cooler this summer too except for this past week when we have had record breaking heat.