Garden

Since we moved into the townhouse in April, I have a real garden for the first time in my (adult) life. My 'garden' has typically consisted of a dozen different sized containers on our balcony. I've had a lot of success growing tomatoes and peppers in containers, and was really looking forward to being able to plant a greater variety of things in the ground.

I wish I had taken a before picture of the garden area, so it would be obvious how much work we did to prep it into a usable state. It hadn't been touched for at least the last two years and was a mess of weeds, random bulbs, layers of dead plants, and ant hills. Beyond that, the soil was in really bad shape. It's still not great - high in clay, cracks easily, and water doesn't absorb very readily. I am actually surprised at how well these plants are doing.

Here is a photo from the day the veggies were planted. I'll list below what I've put in, but if you click through to Flickr, the first photo has everything labeled with notes.



May 31, 2009

container plants in chipmunk proof cages

I've planted:
Roma tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Park's Whopper tomatoes
Early Girl tomatoes
"Health Kick" tomatoes
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Okra
Brussel Sprouts
Banana Peppers
Cubanelle Peppers
Green Bell Peppers
Hot Cherry Peppers
Sweet Baby watermelon
Bush cumumbers (in a container)
Patio tomato (in a container)

If this list seems a little random, and heavy on tomatoes, that's because it is. I didn't have any plan going in and love buying veggie plants (just ask my husband). I picked these up a few at a time over a few week span. Even at this point in the game I have to restrain myself from buying another tomato or pepper every time we are at Home Depot.

Here are some current photos as of July 14:



overall growth

a baby cucumber

a baby bell pepper

some cherry tomatoes

Park's Whopper tomatoes

watermelon

containers


Next year, things will be even better. I am going to give a little more thought to what I'm planting and hopefully the soil will be a little more workable after a freeze/thaw cycle now that all the dead debris has been cleared out.

I can't wait to have something tasty to pick!