Growing Things

At the beginning of the summer, Joey built me a raised bed vegetable garden. It was super sweet, but I knew we have started something dangerous. Joey and I tend to not start a project off the easy way. We jump in head first! So, when we went to go get seeds to start our little 3' x 6' garden you can probably guess that we ended up coming home with a farms worth of seeds. So we started our little planter off as a seed starter and loaded it up with mushroom compost and top soil mix. And then we started growing watermelons, cantaloupe, birdhouse gourds, tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell pepper as well as a few spices like basil, thyme, cilantro and parsley. I guess I should add that we also have 3 blueberry bushes and a baby dwarf Meyer lemon/key lime plant we are tending. We are doing this completely organic. The only things we have added to the soil or put on the plants are organic nitrogen, coffee grounds from Starbucks, diatomaceous earth (for bug prevention) and BT or Dipel (for caterpillars and pickle worms). 

Mid July: This is the planter with our massive cherry tomato plant given to us by the Blessings.

August: Cherry tomatoes are ready to pick!

A few weeks later Joey came home with a tiller and cleared a 20' x 50' section from the back of our property and made rows. We transplanted the large veggies:watermelon, cantaloupe, and birdhouse gourds and added peas, okra and pumpkins. 

Clemson Spineless Okra

Jack O'Lantern Pumpkin flowers

Hale's Best Jumbo Cantaloupe

More cantaloupe. This one got attacked by pickle-worms. 

Sumter cucumbers. The entire batch became infested with pickle worms and we got one cucumber before we had to rip up the whole crop!

Birdhouse Gourd

Birdhouse Gourds can be made into a bird house,  but to get them to grow straight they must grow on a trellis.

Crimson Sweet Watermelon on 6 inch plate

Baby Watermelon

Bonnie Bell peppers started from seedlings

Today we picked all of these from our ONE AND ONLY tomato plant. 

 So far we have learned quite a few things. I'd like to call this a practice year so that next year we will know what we are doing! Other than the tomatoes, so far we have lost most of our crop (cucumbers and cantaloupe) to pickle worms as a result of starting our season to late. The peas and bell pepper would never grow. I'm learning more about composting, coffee grounds, and companion planting. And I'm working on figuring out what plants we are going to plant over the fall for our winter crop. So, if you have any tips or suggestions please let me know!