Project 7: Vegetable Garden

In previous years I've had a tomato plant during the spring and summer. It's fun when a batch of tomatoes are ready for picking, and they usually are sweet, juicy, perfect little treats.

And then last year we had a very bad tomato plant experience. We decided to plant it upside-down instead of worrying about staking it. The upside-down hanging tomato plant looked cool, and it did work (water didn't have to fight gravity as much, although the plant kept trying to grow vertically); but, it was a beast to manage when we needed to bring it in during hurricanes, and the tomatoes that the plant produced were horrible. Green, shriveled little things that I refused to eat after tasting briefly.

So, I think I avoided getting that type of tomato plant again this year, but we can also plant any tomato in the ground now, rather than a pot, and that should improve the quality of the fruit.

The first thing to do was to clear a spot in the backyard for the garden. The corner closest to the house made sense, because the fence is completed on either side, and the space is in a southern-ly section of the backyard, but wouldn't be too in the way or out of the way for visiting.

Ripping out the old McVicker plants was easy, and Nate and I quickly decided that a roughly six foot by six foot square would make sense, since it wouldn't be too big, but we could always expand it if needed.

Ripping out all of the other weeds and little grasses that had grown up took some time, but leveling the whole was very taxing.







I picked up three bags of soil (2 cubic feet each), and then we went about spreading it around.



Then Nate and I used the old stepping stones to create a little path through the garden, and also divide it into sections.





Basil and pineapple sage:



Tomato plant:



Jalapeno peppers:



Tools and remnants of the project:



I want to edge the area with rocks like the tree in the front yard when I get the chance. This is a project without end, much like the herb spiral. We left space to plant some okra and arugula later on, and we intend to expand it further down the fence (onto the side of the house) as time goes by. I can see us growing more than just herbs - but it will take time. I sometimes regret not making the herb spiral twice as big, since it's almost 80% full now. Anyway, we have lots of space to do whatever we want in.

Et cetera: Fence, Part II

So, the Fencing Company did our fence a month ago, and we're really pretty happy with the results!



















With the fence fixed the backyard seems a foot or two deeper. Our yard is still shallow - but now the fence looks sturdy and we have an extra foot or so of privacy. Thanks for finding these guys Rob!

Project 3: Herb Spiral, Part III

The construction of the herb spiral was completed in January, but since the initial work I've added some plants:

• Planted a sage plant a month ago - bought from Lowe's





• Two weeks ago began growing lavender, dill, and jalapeno pepper seeds indoors. On Saturday N and I transplanted the tiny dill plants into the herb spiral.









• Replanted my Mexican marigold plant into the top of the spiral. Last year this plant got to be very tall with lots of flowers. I'm hoping for the same effect this year as well. This plant had suffered from neglect after the move, and I had abandoned it before Christmas. But about two weeks ago I noticed that it had started growing anew, and I admire determination.





• When removing the marigold from its pot, I discovered that my dill plant from last summer had come back! This plant died sometime in August and had never even made it to the house. Herbs continue to amaze me - I just can't seem to kill them! I removed the dill plant from its pot, and placed it next to the new dill spouts in the spiral. I will probably have to thin this area in the next month, but I want to see how well things do - because everything could die.





• Well, the exception to the "I can't kill plants" rule would be cilantro. I've killed it twice - once three summers ago, and again last summer. But, since the spiral seems to manage itself well (and I don't need to water it), why not try again?
  

Herb spiral from far away:





I love spring!