Jun 262011
 

I may have mentioned before that the soil up here sucks is not very conducive to growing vegetables… mostly sand with rocks thrown in for good measure.  And I’ve been having a heck of a time over the last 10 years trying to find just the right spot in my yard where my plants will even enjoy ample sunshine due to all the trees on our property (an no, I will not cut even one down just for a garden… I’m a treehugger.  Don’t judge.).

Last year I waged all out war and decided I wasn’t going to let these conditions win.  I WAS going to prove that I still had my green thumb, come hell or high water!  So I went back to my square-foot-gardening that I love so dearly, and combined it with raised beds, reusing the logs from an old garden that failed me miserably (I also recycle, if you haven’t guessed already).

A new area was chosen next to a flower garden that my MIL Georgia had planted for me.  This was phase one:  building the plots.  The next phase is on-going:  building up the soil.  Not an easy task when you like to grow organically.  Top soil, manure, and organic matter that will biodegrade naturally are my only allies.

Yesterday, I was able to see that my strategy is starting to work.

Success may start small, but it’s there.

I’ve got 6 tomatoes that have made an appearance so far on 8 plants, which have already grown more in the last month than they did all last summer in a different bed.

It sometimes helps to try a different type of plant too, like these “bush” variety cucumbers.  I’m so excited about them that next year I will be doubling the amount that I plant.

Lookie lookie… do you see it?

The first cucumber of the season.

This variety is grown specifically for pickling, and I tend to like the little ones, so this is the biggest I want them to get.

I was so happy that I just had to share my bounty with someone!

Rick wasn’t home, but that was OK, I was sure that Calie would be as excited as I was.

Hmm, guess not.

Oh well, guess that just means more pickles for me.

  2 Responses to “How Does Your Garden Grow?”

Comments (2)
  1. Yummy! Save some for me!

  2. I’ll try 😉

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