I know I talked a lot about my garden last Spring but never posted many updates about how it went. So today I took some pictures. Unfortunately many of the things that had been growing are no longer there but you can get the idea...
For those of you who weren't reading when I started my garden, here is the short story. We had a backyard consisting of a patch of grass surrounded by lots of bark. That's it. I have been waiting years to finally have a yard. So last Spring I enlisted my dad to build me some raised beds for my garden. I had done a bunch of research and decided I really wanted to give Square Foot Gardening a try. Not only is it functional for small spaces but it is very aesthetically pleasing.
We also planted a bunch of fruit. We have a couple apple trees, a peach tree, plum tree, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. I'm hoping we'll be around next year to actually get a chance to eat the fruit from the trees!
This was my first garden so I learned a lot about what to do differently. Here is the short list.
1. Plant more peas. I had about 40 plants but that wasn't nearly enough for my kids. They eat peas like they are going out of style.
2. Fertilize the tomatoes, peppers and corn. They were all slow growing and the peppers really aren't growing. The garden is full of compost but it just wasn't enough for these crops. I bought some great organic fertilizers later in the season but I'll use them earlier next time.
3. Don't grow broccoli. My mom warned me about this but I had to try it. The cabbage worms ate the leaves and then I don't know if it was the weather or what but the broccoli went to seed before it ws even finished growing. Anyone know why that would happen?
4. Figure out how to keep the predators from my carrots
5. Grow less lettuce. It turns out we don't really eat much of it.
6. Other things I want more of next year- corn. strawberries (38 plants have given us bowls full every week but, much like the peas, it is never enough. tomatoes. zucchini. raspberries. blueberries.
7. Figure out why my cucumbers, basil and peppers didn't grow. They aren't dead, just not growing.
