Oh, you like gardening too? Well come on in! :)
This is the third year my friend Brittany and I have a garden with Project Grow. We didn't think we'd get one this year because PG filled up before we could get our plot. :( But then they decided to open up a new site and so we jumped on it! :)
So, grab a cuppa and come along with me on a
There were some unique challenges this year. 1. The new PG site was thrown together last minute so you'll notice in the pics that it is NOT well plowed. We basically have a lawn that was roto-tilled instead of a garden that was properly plowed. And 2. we only bought a half-plot this year so our garden space is very leetle.
Still, I love my garden. :D
It should be noted that Brittany and I are the "outcast" gardeners. Envision gardens filled with perfectly aligned mounded rows with wire fencing all around and a small home-fashioned gate for gardeners to enter their plots to weed and water. Maybe a pinwheel for "flash" but otherwise your basic dirt and plants.
Yeah, that's not us.
Here is our plot: *I'm standing in another gardener's plot to take this - shhh..
Because we didn't think we'd have a garden, our fencing is in storage at Britt's mom's house a whole state away so we used colored rope as a "fence". It's sole purpose is to define & decorate our space, not to keep critters out. Other gardeners have already commented on it's purpose-less-ness but we love it. Luckily we still had our awesome gate up here in Michigan though. :)
THIS is my half of our plot:
Come on in!
Did you see that huge rock I unearthed!?! Who knows how deep it really goes!?
Since I obviously can't utilize that space, I decided to decorate the rock with pansies. :)
Old man faces - bah humbug!
Since I can't use the ground there, I'm contemplating setting a large flower pot on the rock and planting herbs in it. Herbs have a tendency to turn into invasive species here so container-growing would be a good alternative.
To keep our bright-color theme going, I bought colored tomato cages. :)
That's two tomatillos and a yellow pear tomato plant, behind them are the bi-colored sweet corn, and off to the side, barely noticeable, are my onions. There's also a couple squash plants there in front and a zucchini out of frame next to them.
Oh yes, that IS a hummingbird feeder in the corner. :D
There's already one leetle tomatillo!
And two leetle tomatoes! :)
My corn is struggling here, but hopefully it'll be okay.
I snagged some Georgia Jet sweet potatoes again this year too, which take up the bulk of my garden. And before you ask - as all the other gardeners have, ugh! - that is NOT fertilizer surrounding them. It's just the little white deco rocks that came in the commercial pots I bought the sweet potatoes in.
Georgia Jets! Woot!
Since we don't have a proper fence, I told each of those Marigolds "you're job is to protect these potatoes" as I planted them.
My little soldiers.
And speaking of the fence, the only tracks we actually noticed in our garden were deer tracks so we hung pie pans on the fence to scare them off, and then painted glow-in-the-dark eyes on the tins for further determent.
RAWR!
The tins are actually working very well. We haven't seen a single deer track since putting them up.
To go along with that, since this is a brand new PG site, the coordinator sent out an email asking if all the gardeners here would be willing to pitch in on one BIG fence to surround ALL the gardens together (with access gates at specific locations). Brittany and I do NOT want to do this. First, we don't have a lot of money so there's that, but also, we haven't seen a single plant get nibbled AND we are both of the mind that, although undoubtedly there will be a rabbit or two hoping through, the amount of crop a garden produces is SO MUCH that a bunny stealing a squash or two isn't going to hurt our harvest and it's kind of the least we can do since we've taken over what was previously their space.
Also, you may have noticed from the pics that it is a very wide open space with a wooded park surrounding it. There are hawks in this park - I've seen them even since planting the garden. To me (and Britt), it is very unlikely a rabbit will risk it's life to venture that far into the open. A few inexperienced ones surely will, but the hawks will easily pick them off - natural selection win out.
Unfortunately, every other gardener that we've spoken too has mentioned this large fence project. They all say they are worried about their crops yet none can say their plants have been nibbled. But to them, that sentenced just ends with the word "yet." We'll see how it all pans out.
And that's it! My garden in a nutshell. :) Also, because all the spaces weren't filled, PG offered us another half-plot for free so we have decided to plant a second garden - an all-flower garden. :D We are buying straw to cover the land and then we're planning to rake out a spiral design and plant flowers in that pattern with a center sitting area. Stay tuned for pics to come!
Well, thanks for visiting my garden. You're welcome any time. I'm usually here, sitting under the umbrella, reading a book. Please stop by again sometime. I may have camomile tea to offer next time (if I put that flower pot in). :) Happy gardening!
So, grab a cuppa and come along with me on a
There were some unique challenges this year. 1. The new PG site was thrown together last minute so you'll notice in the pics that it is NOT well plowed. We basically have a lawn that was roto-tilled instead of a garden that was properly plowed. And 2. we only bought a half-plot this year so our garden space is very leetle.
Still, I love my garden. :D
It should be noted that Brittany and I are the "outcast" gardeners. Envision gardens filled with perfectly aligned mounded rows with wire fencing all around and a small home-fashioned gate for gardeners to enter their plots to weed and water. Maybe a pinwheel for "flash" but otherwise your basic dirt and plants.
Yeah, that's not us.
Here is our plot: *I'm standing in another gardener's plot to take this - shhh..
Because we didn't think we'd have a garden, our fencing is in storage at Britt's mom's house a whole state away so we used colored rope as a "fence". It's sole purpose is to define & decorate our space, not to keep critters out. Other gardeners have already commented on it's purpose-less-ness but we love it. Luckily we still had our awesome gate up here in Michigan though. :)
THIS is my half of our plot:
Come on in!
Did you see that huge rock I unearthed!?! Who knows how deep it really goes!?
Since I obviously can't utilize that space, I decided to decorate the rock with pansies. :)
Old man faces - bah humbug!
Since I can't use the ground there, I'm contemplating setting a large flower pot on the rock and planting herbs in it. Herbs have a tendency to turn into invasive species here so container-growing would be a good alternative.
To keep our bright-color theme going, I bought colored tomato cages. :)
That's two tomatillos and a yellow pear tomato plant, behind them are the bi-colored sweet corn, and off to the side, barely noticeable, are my onions. There's also a couple squash plants there in front and a zucchini out of frame next to them.
Oh yes, that IS a hummingbird feeder in the corner. :D
There's already one leetle tomatillo!
And two leetle tomatoes! :)
My corn is struggling here, but hopefully it'll be okay.
I snagged some Georgia Jet sweet potatoes again this year too, which take up the bulk of my garden. And before you ask - as all the other gardeners have, ugh! - that is NOT fertilizer surrounding them. It's just the little white deco rocks that came in the commercial pots I bought the sweet potatoes in.
Georgia Jets! Woot!
Since we don't have a proper fence, I told each of those Marigolds "you're job is to protect these potatoes" as I planted them.
My little soldiers.
And speaking of the fence, the only tracks we actually noticed in our garden were deer tracks so we hung pie pans on the fence to scare them off, and then painted glow-in-the-dark eyes on the tins for further determent.
RAWR!
The tins are actually working very well. We haven't seen a single deer track since putting them up.
To go along with that, since this is a brand new PG site, the coordinator sent out an email asking if all the gardeners here would be willing to pitch in on one BIG fence to surround ALL the gardens together (with access gates at specific locations). Brittany and I do NOT want to do this. First, we don't have a lot of money so there's that, but also, we haven't seen a single plant get nibbled AND we are both of the mind that, although undoubtedly there will be a rabbit or two hoping through, the amount of crop a garden produces is SO MUCH that a bunny stealing a squash or two isn't going to hurt our harvest and it's kind of the least we can do since we've taken over what was previously their space.
Also, you may have noticed from the pics that it is a very wide open space with a wooded park surrounding it. There are hawks in this park - I've seen them even since planting the garden. To me (and Britt), it is very unlikely a rabbit will risk it's life to venture that far into the open. A few inexperienced ones surely will, but the hawks will easily pick them off - natural selection win out.
Unfortunately, every other gardener that we've spoken too has mentioned this large fence project. They all say they are worried about their crops yet none can say their plants have been nibbled. But to them, that sentenced just ends with the word "yet." We'll see how it all pans out.
And that's it! My garden in a nutshell. :) Also, because all the spaces weren't filled, PG offered us another half-plot for free so we have decided to plant a second garden - an all-flower garden. :D We are buying straw to cover the land and then we're planning to rake out a spiral design and plant flowers in that pattern with a center sitting area. Stay tuned for pics to come!
Well, thanks for visiting my garden. You're welcome any time. I'm usually here, sitting under the umbrella, reading a book. Please stop by again sometime. I may have camomile tea to offer next time (if I put that flower pot in). :) Happy gardening!