Our raised beds in WA almost seemed to grow food on their own. It was literally so easy. But the hard, clay-like soil in NC is another story. Our thickly wooded lot also presents a challenge. And since we had a new little baby in the house last spring, time was also a challenging aspect of gardening. But this year she's a little bigger. We've cut down some trees. I've moved the boxes further out into the middle of the yard. And perhaps most importantly, I've been trying to educate myself.
For Christmas, my "Secret Santa" bought me a book about gardening in the Carolinas. Loved it. Read it up as fast as I could. I also attended a seminar about vermicomposting and have started (ok, I purchased it from a friend) a worm bin. It lives on our deck. And I also purchased a gardening video series from a guy online named Dan Bartell in Colorado who has a site called growfoodwell.com His series was really helpful and gave me courage to try some new things. He has some free videos on YouTube as well.
So armed with new raised beds, copious amounts of compost, and fresh seeds we set out to do better than our "lucky garden" from last year. I coined the term "lucky garden" a few years back when I was feeling over whelmed by life at planting time. I told the kids, "Hey, we'll just throw out some seeds and if anything comes up we'll just be plain lucky!" We've had several lucky gardens over the years and some of them did produce a little. But this year I wanted to really try.
I have to say, trying actually makes a difference! Still making some mistakes. Still having some issues. But so far this is the best looking garden I've had in a long while. Here are a few pics of what's brewing right now. These are actually about a week old and already we've had lots of growth since I took them. I can't wait for the summer to progress and the garden to continue growing.
These pics were taken in the evening. You can see how shady it is with the trees casting their shadows as the sun lowers. I do love this time of day in our backyard. It's so peaceful and green. But these boxes do get a good 5-6 or so hours of HOT sun each day.
The herb box has oregano, lemon thyme, cilantro and basil.
I'm trying my hand at composting this year for the first time. Sometimes it works and it gets hot! Right now things seem to be off and I can't get it up over 90! Hm.....
We recently ate all the lettuce in this box as the weather suddenly heated up this past week. What a great salad that was! So satisfying to eat your own veggies. Likewise, we've had to pick all the peas and will probably have to pull up the plants too. It's already just too hot around here. UG.
This pumpkin plant is so big and healthy! It's sprawling everywhere. I love dreaming of the jars of spicy pumpkin butter that will haunt our freezer like frosty little ghosts this coming winter.
You can barely see the baby carrots coming up in the middle of this bed. I had to replant a bunch because some of them just didn't make it the first time around. Those are purple potatoes in the upper corner. We've got the black trellis in there ready to support cantaloupe when they begin to vine. I had to move out some of those tomatoes as they've already grown quite a bit! I put them in pots and buckets because I'm just out of garden space. They live over by our hydrangea bushes like foster children waiting for a permanent home along with our potted lemon tree, which, by the way, has recovered from the horrid winter it spent in our kitchen. I though the poor fellow was mostly dead. But it has new leaves and lots of growth! It even had a little bud on it but some eager beaver apparently came along and snapped it off. Grrrrrr....
This Teepee trellis is something we've never tried before. My 13 yo and I harvested the poles from our forest, dug the trench, erected the poles and tied them together, filled the trench, and layered the cord around it. It's very sturdy! I think it could last several seasons. I wanted to create something for my preschooler that would make gardening an interesting adventure for her too. I have high hopes that it will be covered in vines before long! We'll see. Wouldn't it be a lovely little summer retreat to hide inside a shady, green, living teepee? How magical for a little (or big!) person. We've got cucumbers, cantaloupe, morning glories and peas around it. You should see it now! The cucumbers are the clear winners at this point; sprawling and vining as they twist their tiny, spindly fingers around the cords. I think the peas are going to tucker out with the heat that's coming on. We started the peas much too late. But this has been a fun project for my 13-yo and I this spring. We enjoy taking care of it together. We put in sunflowers at the teepee entrance to stand as cheery sentinels.
Look at this cool critter! Not even sure what you would call it. The body is furry white! Can you see the antennae that look like fern fronds?
And this is us picking strawberries at a local organic farm just ten minutes from our home. Oh my, seriously the best strawberries I've EVER had (and that's saying a LOT coming from WA). They were little sweet jewels that just burst with flavor in my mouth. They come with a hefty price, however, and I probably spent more than I should have for this seasonal indulgence. I also purchased a subscription to this farm (CSA style) and we pick up our our box of veggies weekly. I'll have to show you some of the recipes I've made with our CSA veggies another time.
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