Friday, July 8, 2011

How does your garden grow?

Everytime C deploys I take on a new project. Last year I took a sewing class and this year I'm taking a knitting class. So much fun! But that's not the point of today (although I could tell you all my fun knitting stories- I'll save that for later). The point it, I have also begun to garden! Who would have thought that little ole me would have a green thumb?! Not this girl, that's for sure!

C and I signed up for a CSA last year. It was great! I would have done it this year, but I can't eat all that food myself. Anyway, we were exposed to some delicious fresh vegetables. This got us talking. We had been wanting to start a garden of our own, but there is nothing but clay in our backyard. It would take work, and frankly, I'm lazy. Plus I wouldn't know where to begin. It usually involved me staring at the ground trying to coax it to make something grow. Ugh.

Well, since I've cast a spell on my husband and am trying to make him all granola and earth loving (baby steps!), I thought this would be a great way to put this plan into fruitition. (I honestly don't know if that's a word, it sounds fancy). We- and by we I mean I, since C is 5,000+ miles away, I get to make decisions- decided to sign up for a garden plot with Grow Annapolis. For $40 we were given a plot, tools, compost, and some seeds and starts if we wanted them and we were off to the races. Here is how we started.

Please note, my husband is the logistics guy. I'm the "cram everything into the plot and see what happens" type of girl. This should be interesting.....

*Disclaimer: All personal photos

Doesn't look like much, huh?! Well believe me. It is!


Where those stakes are on the left is going to be canteloupe. Then next to that is strawberries, then a blueberry bush. The four stakes in the back are two rows of carrots and two rows of chives. Then we have a row of tomatos along the end, peppers in front of the chives, an eggplant in front of the peppers, and a squash next to that. Then behind the squash is cucumber. See what I mean about cramming. Woopsie. I was hungry when I was picking stuff out!!

So I planted and weeded and cared for it like crazy. I crossed my fingers and my toes something would grow!

After a few weeks it started growing! Oh, I got the bright idea to add lettuce. It was yummy.


And bigger! It started to remind me of the plant from Little Shop of Horrors!!

I sadly had to pull out my squash plant, as it got some sort of white powdery mildew. Apparently that is common if you overcrowd or water at night, both things I did. I have since started watering in the morning before coming into work. I was sad at first, but the mildew stuff is bad. It can weaken your plant. I don't want that. And I'm not sure if it could spread, but I didn't want to take the chance.

A good thing about pulling it up? Now my peppers get sun. They were completely covered before and not doing so hot. They strive on sunlight. So I'm hoping this helps. Also, I had some cucumbers that had sprouted that I hadn't even noticed because they were being hidden by the squash plant, so I was able to get to them as well. They were ready for the picking, so that was perfect timing.

What I have learned? Garden is a crapshoot. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you think, I'm going to have the best garden on the block, and things go haywire with the weather, soil, etc. Some fruits and veggies don't like certain conditions. And sometimes ducks eat your eggplant...... :(

My first tomatoes!  

Nom nom nom.....


I am not sure why my cucumber on the left is shaped like a grenade.......

Look how tiny this carrot is. It makes me laugh.


I do love me some strawberries!
And since this is usually parked right outside of the garden plot, I water the garden with it. I'm kidding. Maybe.....

Any tips or advice you'd care to share? I'm all ears! And tummy. I'm starving....


6 comments:

  1. Um, how cool is that program??? I wish my town had something like that! And who knew ducks even liked eggplant? Silly ducks. :P

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  2. You could make raised garden beds in your back yard - you guys get so much sun! :)

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  3. Looks like you're doing an awesome job! Love the idea of being able to buy/rent a little patch of land.. go you!

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  4. What a great program! My mother-in-law is the gardener in our family - I like to time our visits strategically.... yum :)

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  5. That's so awesome! Your tomatoes and cucumbers look good. I wonder if my peppers aren't growing as fast because they're not getting enough sun... Hmm.

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  6. I am jealous! I have a black thumb, (is that what they call it??) I can't keep plants alive!!

    My hubby is deploying soon, I didn't think to take on a project! I'm off to brainstorm :)

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