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TripityDooDaDay

Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 7,600

My grows this year

#248808 - 07/12/09 07:24 PM (15 years, 4 months ago)

I've got 23 feet in length of counter space in my kitchen. More than we need. I finally recently got around to something that I've wanted to do with a corner of it.

I turned the back of the corner into a garden of sorts. Mostly a herb garden with two cayenne pepper plants and two habanero pepper plants. I already had the fixtures and aquarium/plant tubes from a former project. I also already had one of the two little fountains, light timer, humidity gauge, thermometer, and more.

Most of it I don't really need but I figured I'd use since I had it already and was not being put to use anywhere else at the moment. Pretty much the only things I had to buy were the pots which only cost $1.00 each. I also bought a few plants already started from a garden center rather than starting everything from seed. I wanted some greenery to look at immediately upon completion of the little project. Oh yeah... two door mirrors as well that I paid $6.00 each I think. So I ended up only having to pull out less than $50.00 to do this.

All in all it makes up a nice little kitchen garden. The cats love it too. They keep drinking the little fountains nearly dry and occasionally snacking a little on a leaf or two here and there. Not too bad fortunately. I had wondered if that was going to be a problem. It doesn't appear so

The little hanging basket in the corner is full of the tall style shot glasses filled with water and plant cuttings that I'm rooting for use elsewhere.

It's not thick and luscious yet. Actually, not everything is even planted yet. Also I think I may need to double my lighting. Seedlings get very leggy and overall growth of everything is running a bit slow. I can easily add in two more of the double tube fixtures like the ones I have now without even having to move the ones already in place.

My little wildflower garden has gotten a bit out of hand. Looks like it's been overtaken by weeds but those are all wild flowers of many different types. Half are to attract song birds and half are to attract humming birds.

The garden is set in two 10" and one 5" high round brick tiers. It's about 7 feet in diameter. My two boys and I threw it together in about an hour or two, including the planting one afternoon a couple of months ago. The hardest part was hauling the worm casting loaded dirt from my worm beds in the woods behind the house. I've accumulated a lot over the years and use it for all of my planting and some of our fishing needs. :grin:

I practically live in the woods with a heavily shaded yard and until this year had no nice and sunny spot for a garden. I've never planted a garden of my own before. This is my very first one. I helped my grandpa out with his as a small child and have done a fair amount of container planting but never an actual vegetable garden of my own.

Earlier this year I had some trees removed that in the past have always leaned over the house threateningly during ice storms. The guys that removed them left the stumps high and ragged which I have not dealt with yet but instead went ahead and planted among them.

I got a very late start from where I was sick and ended up hospitalized this spring. I ended up losing almost every seedling that I had started because they didn't get watered while I was in the hospital for 5 days. I also didn't feel up to taking on the prepping and planting for the first couple of weeks when I got out. So my garden didn't get started until late may and early June. Some plants added even later come to think of it. Like a couple of weeks ago. Still I think it's turning out well for my first ever garden.

In addition to the stumps I've still got a fair amount of brush to deal with that I'm saving for the fall. I'll cut up the larger pieces for fire wood to burn in my fire pits and fire place. I only cleaned up and used a little under half of the area that I had cleared. Next year this garden will be much neater and over twice as large.

There are probably hundreds of natural grape vines popping up all over the area so I will also be building a few trellis for them. The muscadine grapes here make a delicious sweet wine as well as good preserves. I've got more experience making wine and brewing beer than I do gardening. I'll probably also add in some hops to grow for the beer. It will be nice to have my own fresh hops grown from the ground that is home for me.

View from top of house. For size reference the sprinkler post in the center is 6' tall.

A squash that I'm leaving to see how big it will grow. I think it's about there. I over did the squash planting. I've harvested over 60 already and still have some growing plants that have not yet started to produce. Some were planted from seed and others bought from a small local store.

It's a good thing I have a pressure canner and two freezers. Three if I need to pull out and hook up the third one. I've been giving a fair amount of squash and peppers away as well.

Squash leaf

In addition to some I have planted in the ground I also decided to give hanging tomatoes a try. Rather than tying them up on stakes or cages, let them naturally hang and take care of themselves. Bonus - no weeds or ground pests and better drainage. They have so far outdone the ones in the ground. The soil is different too though. They are growing in the worm casting soil I mentioned earlier.

Caged tomatoes.

The better half of my pepper plants. I have bell, cayenne, hot banana, and habanero plants. Most all except the habaneros and bells have started producing a nice amount of peppers. The first fully ripe red ones this week. Most of the habaneros have started as well but are still small so far.

Cayenne's

Hot banana peppers

Jalapenos

The largest of the water melons.

Cantaloupes

Water melon vines fore and pumpkin back.

Perky pumpkin vines.

Largest pumpkin.

Oregano

Corn. Picture doesn't show it well but it is 3 rows deep.

Corn

Whats left of the radishes. The kids have been eating em up. I also have a pile of them with the tops in the fridge. Both the greenery tops and the radishes themselves sliced are good in salads.

Radish

Record keeping assistant.

Egg plant.

Interesting point. I have used no pesticide at all and this plant is a good example of among the worse pest damage I've had among all of my plants. Not bad at all. I don't know why this year has been so easy but normally pest are a lot more problematic here.

Iceberg lettuce.

Curled leaf lettuce

Jimson weed

I also have spinach and carrots and okra but no pics.

Example of the wild grape vines that grow all over the place here. This is at one edge of my back yard and forms a virtual wall of leaves now and later will have grapes as well.

I also have lots of blackberry and honeysuckle. The honeysuckle is not currently in bloom but is the light colored shinier leaved vine growing through the blackberries. This is also on the same edge of my back yard as the grapevines pictured above. I could probably pick nearly a bushel of blackberries in that one area right now.

Damn this post took longer to put together than I thought it would.

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