Friday, June 25, 2010

Fruits or Veg of my labors...or lack there of

Being the pretty hands-off type of guy I tend to be (let nature take it's course) I decided to let my garden do it's thing this year, and see what happens. A lot has happened, but I am sure a lot more could have happened. Here is an example. I did not follow the "gardening rules" by planting my broccoli 12 inches apart, or whatever I was suppose to do because well, I didn't have that much space, instead I did some kind of French gardening method where I kinda of bunched them all together. Look at that, broccoli. The same with the tomatoes. I bought four different plants hoping you know maybe one will grow, what do you know I have fruit on all four of the plants. I crowded my garden, so what, I have a yield, maybe it's not the best yield, but I did it and I put minimal effort into it. I made the beds, added the soil, added the plants and gave it water when it didn't rain, presto, fruits and veg.
I am pretty proud of the fact that anything grew. I didn't really do much. What didn't grow was the carrots, beets (one is left), and corn. The reasons are because they got eaten when they were little. The carrot tops all got eaten by a neighborhood cat (I know because one day they were all gone and I saw a cat in my garden.) The beets, well maybe when the beans are gone and other plants are gone I will have a late beet season, we shall see. For now I am happy with my tomatoes and broccoli. Later in the season I should expect everything else to come up. The B-sprouts and cauliflower is doing fairly well. I have beans that I can pick in a few days as well as a tiny bit of leaf lettuce. Well that is all for now.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Veg has exploded...


SO I love looking at my garden and thinking, I helped do this. I planted these plants (some seeds) gave them the water they needed, positioned them so they got 6 hours of sun light and everyday when I got home from work talked to them, gave words of encouragement and words of thanks and now...FRUIT!
As a child I remember my dad always in the garden, as I have said in previous posts, but never really appreciated the fact that all that work yielded the prize. It takes patience and time, you are growing something from a tiny seed and then it gives you it's yield. This year was my first year for many things, first house, first garden, first year brewing my own hard cider, etc. I am finding it more and more satisfying knowing that my hands had a part in the growing of these plants, and the food me and my family will be consuming. I always knew it was hard work and I knew you needed to do a lot for these plants, but it was the satisfaction I did not know about. I am glad I am doing this, I am glad I am a part of a world where I can take part in giving life to something for my nourishment. I would love to have a bigger plot to do even more with but there just isn't space, next year I will add another 4X4 plot so I will have space to grow more different plants, I will also take a lesson from this year and not crowd like I did. I read it was okay because of the way the area is set up you CAN crowd a little, and since I am already yielding tomatoes I am assuming it is working fine. We shall see in the next few months what I yield. So far neighborhood cats have eaten the tops off of my carrots as well as most of the beets. now I have empty space which will be taken up by either the cucumber plant or I may plant one eggplant in the next few weeks. But again it feel wicked good to know I had a part in this growing of veggies! Thanks Earth for giving my what I need to live.