Well, I've been wanting to post pictures and details about my garden, but I didn't quite get to it last week. Over the weekend we had 6.85" of rain in our neighborhood and my garden is very muddy. Many of my plants are pounded to the ground and a lot of my flowers lost all their pedals! They all look like they'll bounce back, but I'm not going to post pictures till they look a little better and the soil dries a bit.
I, like Abby, have planted my very first, very own vegetable garden! I am growing peas on the vine, red and white onions, carrots, salad greens, cucumbers, green bell peppers, red chili peppers, yellow bell peppers, 1 cherry tomato plant, 2 large tomato plants, 1 medium tomato plant, green beans, 1 butternut squash plant, and 3 zucchini plants! I planted everything closer together than recommended because we just didn't have the room. We'll see how that works out. :) I also planted chives, cilantro, basil, rosemary, and parsley? I think that's right... I planted all my herbs, including the chives, in little pots with the hope of bringing them in for the fall/winter and having fresh herbs all year. I planted about 3 or 4 weeks ago and everything is up and growing well!
I also planted a host of last week flowers and they're doing okay. If I could do it over again, I would have had a bit more variety and I would have grouped things together. They're all planted sporadically with other flowers and other colors. It doesn't really flow, but I guess the way to learn is by trial and error, right?
The best addition to my garden is my rain barrel!!! For my birthday, Ben built me a rain barrel! (One of the benefits of marrying a civil engineer who works with water supply and water distribution, I guess.) It catches rain water off the roof of the garage into a 60 gallon barrel. It only takes a half inch of rain to fill the barrel and in a dry week, I'm estimating I could water my whole garden, vegetables & flowers, at least twice. Rain water is best for my plants, plus we're being good stewards of our resources, while saving money at the same time. Although I was a little disappointed to open a box of PVC pipes on my birthday, I've grown to love my rain barrel so much that I'm having Ben build me a second one for the other side of the garage. Here's a picture of it, including the watering can he bought to go with it:
I, like Abby, have planted my very first, very own vegetable garden! I am growing peas on the vine, red and white onions, carrots, salad greens, cucumbers, green bell peppers, red chili peppers, yellow bell peppers, 1 cherry tomato plant, 2 large tomato plants, 1 medium tomato plant, green beans, 1 butternut squash plant, and 3 zucchini plants! I planted everything closer together than recommended because we just didn't have the room. We'll see how that works out. :) I also planted chives, cilantro, basil, rosemary, and parsley? I think that's right... I planted all my herbs, including the chives, in little pots with the hope of bringing them in for the fall/winter and having fresh herbs all year. I planted about 3 or 4 weeks ago and everything is up and growing well!
I also planted a host of last week flowers and they're doing okay. If I could do it over again, I would have had a bit more variety and I would have grouped things together. They're all planted sporadically with other flowers and other colors. It doesn't really flow, but I guess the way to learn is by trial and error, right?
The best addition to my garden is my rain barrel!!! For my birthday, Ben built me a rain barrel! (One of the benefits of marrying a civil engineer who works with water supply and water distribution, I guess.) It catches rain water off the roof of the garage into a 60 gallon barrel. It only takes a half inch of rain to fill the barrel and in a dry week, I'm estimating I could water my whole garden, vegetables & flowers, at least twice. Rain water is best for my plants, plus we're being good stewards of our resources, while saving money at the same time. Although I was a little disappointed to open a box of PVC pipes on my birthday, I've grown to love my rain barrel so much that I'm having Ben build me a second one for the other side of the garage. Here's a picture of it, including the watering can he bought to go with it:
Oh, I guess you can see my tomatoes growing in the back. :) It's funny, I call it a rain barrel and Ben calls it a "rain water catchment tank."
