It's been a super busy time here at the Smith household. I know, I know. It pretty much feels like I dropped off the face of the earth, but, alas, I have not forgotten about my awesome little blog (or my readers!). My only excuses are holidays, work, family, and just life in general. Not to mention, it has been planting season here in good old PA, which has kept me pretty much occupied in every spare moment I have (which isn't many since I work weird hours.... Hopefully that'll be remedied by the beginning of the year!). This year we have constructed flower beds (veggies need their pollinators! Come on, bees!), expanded our garden plot to an 11 x 16 ft patch, maintained our approximately 1 1/2 x 20 ft pepper patch, built a compost bin (Guess who got power tools here for Christmas? Hint: not my husband!), installed a stone path, mulched, installed a pole and bird feeder, maintained overflow in porch containers....I'm tired just thinking about it! But the good news is, we have the most amazing, prolific patch of plant heaven right outside of our back door! Well, except for the pesky groundhogs. I won't lie - after losing 3 heads of beautiful romaine lettuces and 4 cauliflowers, I felt pretty defeated. But, it appears to be under control (for now.....), so we are having our first harvests of lettuce, kale, peas, cauliflower, spinach, and radishes.
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| Rows of tomatoes |
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| Look at those peas! |
So.... I'm now feeling the need to share my list of crops. I used a modified version of the square foot gardening method. Modified because I don't use raised beds, but I am using the guidelines for number of plants per square foot. It seems to be working well! Everyone is happy and healthy and producing well. I also experimented with carrots in a deep container, and so far, so good!
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| Container carrots |
Without further ado, are you ready for the list? (You know you are!)
(Grown vertically on PVC trellises)
Peas
Watermelon
Cantaloupe
Pole beans
Pickling Cucumbers
Regular cucumbers
(Main garden)
Potatoes
Eggplant
Tomatoes (31 plants, 8 varieties)
Onions
Shallots
Tomatillos
Sweet peppers
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Kale
Carrots
Beets
Yellow summer squash
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Zucchini, tomatoes, sweet peppers,
eggplant, and potatoes. |
Zucchini
(Pepper bed)
Habaneros
Jalapeños
Cayennes
Hot cherries
Sweet cherries
Serranos
Poblanos
Hungarian wax
Tobasco
Scotch bonnets
I also am experimenting with a shaded lettuce garden, container carrots, and did my radishes in containers as well, which worked
amazingly! And, of course, my herb garden. Whew! I think that's it!
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| Cabbage, anyone? |
But all this amazing produce has me in the mood to cook.... And to share! So, brace yourselves.... Posts are coming!
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