Thursday, April 14, 2011

How Does Your Garden Grow


I'm growing a garden. Some of you may know that we are spending our first spring in our first house, so this is my first chance ever to garden in anything apart from containers. I found this awesome blog to help get me started, but prepping for a garden in a place that hasn't had much care for a few years takes awhile. We've cut down and torn out most of what was in the yard (most of it overgrown random bushes), and tilled and amended the soil. By the time all that was done, it was a little late for cool-season vegetables, but I planted them anyway. They are coming up but none are ready yet, so we'll see how they do.

I started almost everything from seed. A few things, like tomatoes and peas, I started inside but the rest I sowed directly in the ground. I even drew out a plan to show where everything would go. I thought this was a great idea until one of my dogs (who is intent on letting anyone who walks by know that they are trespassing in her area) ran through my newly planted garden multiple times and mixed things up a bit. So I upgraded the fence I had from 1 foot to 2 feet which seems to be working to keep out the dogs, but now that things are growing, some of them are out of place and I don't recognize everything to know if it's a weed or if it's something I meant to grow. Hmm.




For example, is this eggplant? I sowed 6 plants but this is the only one that is where it's supposed to be. There are others like it in various places around the garden but I'd like to know that it actually is eggplant before I move it to the right place.



Is this broccoli? These things are all over the place and definitely not where they're supposed to be, but I'm pretty sure it is broccoli.


This is a small example of some of the stuff we've been removing. I think this is the last of it!


I do know what these things are....



Basil and marigold


Asparagus (although I think I may not have planted it in the best spot - did you know it grows to 5 feet?)


Blackberries ( I am super excited about these)


Okra


Clematis (not food, but you know, I think it's pretty)


My little helper. He mostly likes to peel clementines so that he can put the peels in the compost pile.


Speaking of my little helper, I'm pretty sure one of us spilled some of the carrot seeds in the grass....


Fig. One of the few things already in our yard that we kept. I hope the fruit is good!


Roses, which were also already in the garden, and even though they aren't vegetables, will be staying because I'm afraid I'll kill it if I try to take it out.

3 comments:

Dwija {House Unseen} said...

Your garden looks GORGEOUS already! I'm so impressed. Wowzers! We've been working on ours too and it has been hard work. Hopefully it pays off... :)

p.s. someone mentioned something about marigolds being bad for beans the other day...I don't know anything about gardening yet, but it may be something you want to gander at, just in case

Calah said...

Yay Em! I love your garden. It's beautiful. I can't wait to eat all of your blackberries this summer.

And, I'm so glad you're blogging more! I loved the butterfly pictures. William looked absolutely fascinated. But I'm missing Louie pictures!

emily alexander said...

Dweej - Thanks! Yours is looking good, too. My goal is to eventually grow almost all of our produce...we'll see how that one goes!

I planted to marigolds because they are supposed to help keep away aphids and bad kinds of nematodes but I googled them being bad for beans and it looks like if you get the Mexican (as opposed to the French) kind of marigolds, they can be bad. Thanks for telling me though, I don't have any idea what kind I planted!!!


Calah - Absolutely! Yes, I am trying to blog more. I was getting so sporatic about it there for awhile....

Can't wait to see you!