I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I’ve got a 12′ x 4′ raised bed that I built last year in the back yard. I quickly discovered that my appetite for vegetables couldn’t be quenched by such a small garden. I also realized that it might be nice to meet some more people who might be interested in sharing successes and failures with this new hobby of mine.
Hence why I am maintaining two 10’ x 10’ plots as well (with some help) at the nearly urban community garden. The general strategy was to grow the things that took up the most space or didn’t need to be harvested a little at a time at the community / urban garden. Since the bed is raised, “cold weather” plants were put in the raised bed because it thaws more quickly than the ground. I also ended up putting in a random pepper plant a neighbor ran out of space for and keeping a rogue tomato plant that looked extra healthy.
I tried to make good use of the ample space that I had, however, a few things didn’t make it (eggplant and some pepper plants grown from seed). Other things didn’t get nearly as large in the community garden space as they did in my carefully sculpted soil at home last year. I won’t really know how I did with all of this until I look back on it this fall.
I am, however, seriously considering amending the soil my current plots at the end of the season and gambling on being able to get the same ones next year. I’ll have to talk to the folks who organize the program on that one.
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So, pictures are finally up!
Apparently, there’s an issue embedding Picasa slideshows in wordpress blogs. Rather than not post out of laziness, I’ll add the links to each and trust that if someone’s interested they’ll take the time to click through.
There are pictures floating around somewhere of what the community garden looked like in the very beginning. When those show up, they’ll be added for posterity.
I bring you – The nearly urban garden(s) –
Mid July
I’d also like to share that at the end of the Mid July photos is a picture of a dinner plate. That was our dinner tonight, and I’m so pleased to say that every vegetable on that plate (except the potatoes and some leftover red onion) were grown by yours truly. Tada!
The potatoes were a take on a recipe we made often when I was a kid (and is apparently not all that unique.. which is probably why it’s so tasty). It is basically sliced potatoes fried in olive oil along with peppers and onions. For fun, there was some zucchini added right at the end so it didn’t end up mushy. A little bit of sea salt and freshly ground pepper finished it off. I’m really looking forward to eating the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
I also found some lettuce hiding under a tomato branch that must have come up late. It looked great, so I was able to make a surprise side salad. Somehow, in all of my enthusiasm, I forgot to slice and add the cucumber. Ahh well, you can’t win them all.
