Adventures in Gardening (so far)
This year, we decided to make two changes to our veggie garden: 1. build a raised bed set-up (to get above the clay layer, provide better drainage, and stymie encroaching grass). 2. try starting some things as seedlings.
I consider the raised bed a huge success (guarded by a cute yard gnome in the upper center of the pic):
The beds on the left side have tomato & bell pepper plants (more on that below), with radishes, green onions, and basil tucked in between. The beds on the right side have garden greens (bibb lettuce, lollo roso, mizuna, red salad bowl lettuce), and green bean plants (at the top of the pic). The little bed currently has spinach, which will be harvested soon and replaced by cucumbers (and more spinach has gone in next to the beans, where a first batch of radishes have already been harvested).
Goal 2 didn't work out as well. Most of our crop is sown directly in the garden, but we found tomatoes, peppers, and annual flowers do best when a developed seedling/plant can be used. So in early spring, we started some seedlings: 7 tomato, 6 bell pepper, and some annuals (marigold, coleus, and columbine). Well, the columbine never did anything. Only one coleus sprouted - and the cats ate it. The peppers actually started out pretty well - until the cats ate most of them, too. Apparently the tomatoes were unappetizing to the furry delinquents, so they did great - until we tried to plant them on the day before the windy day full of thunderstorms. One plant broke and died. Four got wind burn, turned white, and died.
That left: 2 bell pepper plants, 2 tomato plants, and the marigolds. Not the best return for the amount of effort we put in, along with electricity for the grow light. So we went and got pre-grown tomato and pepper plants from the gardening store to supplement the four survivors and will just do that each year from now on. I'm still a little bitter at the cats and the thunderstorm, but oh, well - now we know.
I consider the raised bed a huge success (guarded by a cute yard gnome in the upper center of the pic):
The beds on the left side have tomato & bell pepper plants (more on that below), with radishes, green onions, and basil tucked in between. The beds on the right side have garden greens (bibb lettuce, lollo roso, mizuna, red salad bowl lettuce), and green bean plants (at the top of the pic). The little bed currently has spinach, which will be harvested soon and replaced by cucumbers (and more spinach has gone in next to the beans, where a first batch of radishes have already been harvested).
Goal 2 didn't work out as well. Most of our crop is sown directly in the garden, but we found tomatoes, peppers, and annual flowers do best when a developed seedling/plant can be used. So in early spring, we started some seedlings: 7 tomato, 6 bell pepper, and some annuals (marigold, coleus, and columbine). Well, the columbine never did anything. Only one coleus sprouted - and the cats ate it. The peppers actually started out pretty well - until the cats ate most of them, too. Apparently the tomatoes were unappetizing to the furry delinquents, so they did great - until we tried to plant them on the day before the windy day full of thunderstorms. One plant broke and died. Four got wind burn, turned white, and died.
That left: 2 bell pepper plants, 2 tomato plants, and the marigolds. Not the best return for the amount of effort we put in, along with electricity for the grow light. So we went and got pre-grown tomato and pepper plants from the gardening store to supplement the four survivors and will just do that each year from now on. I'm still a little bitter at the cats and the thunderstorm, but oh, well - now we know.