Tomatoes, peppers, radishes, and beans are all producing already - we even ate some this weekend. Pumpkins and corn are going nuts and the squash is looking good. Herbs, of course, are also growing like crazy and the cactus garden is awesome!
URBAN FARMER LATE SPRING 2009
The garden is busting! Steady rain and cool weather with a few days of hot-house humid mixed in has made for lots of early green and some yield, as well. I ate radishes, green beans, cherry tomatoes, and a jalapeno pepper right off the vine this weekend. Mmm Mmmm Good!
Check it out!
GALLERY #1: MAY 2009 "Bearing Fruit"
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Photos by Bob Chochola
URBAN FARMER SPRING 2009 By Bob Chochola
This year our hope is much higher for a good yield in our garden. The garden itself is nearly twice the size it was in 2008, the soil is rich and fertile, and the range of plants is very wide: peppers, tomatoes, squash, beans, carrots, cucumbers, radishes, onions, garlic, asparagus, grapes, and pumpkins (several types of each) round-out the veggies and fruits, while the culinary herb area is already booming with a variety that would make any chef's mouth water. We're also growing collard greens for our pets of the reptile nature and a giant pumpkin (expected to grow to be 6-feet in diameter) for the kids' fall fun. And if that's not enough for you, we planted a cactus garden too, because we just like cactus - they're cool.
Last year's hard work paid off: the soil is now great for planting and replacing all the yucky bugs of the root eating variety are fat earthworms and night crawlers that will make the garden even better as we go - I expect to harvest these for fishing bait, as well.
We also got a much earlier start. In 2008 we were still laying the groundwork in May. This year we are planted and growing as of the last week of March. The good start should give roots and plants a good run before the really hot weather hits.
We're off and growing! Each slide show will reveal stages of growth through the year, so you can see the progress. And scroll down to view our efforts from 2008, including "before" photos of what we had to work with when we got started.
GALLERY #2: MARCH 2009 "Planted" GALLERY #3: APRIL 2009 "First Growth" GALLERY #4: SUMMER 2008 "New Gardens" GALLERY #5: SPRING 2008 "The Before Photos"
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Photos by Bob Chochola
URBAN FARMER 2008 By Bob Chochola
In the Spring of 2008 we decided to turn part of our backyard into a half vegetable half culinary herb garden and we certainly had our work cut out for us. There were several years of rotting fallen leaves on top of "soil" (I use that term loosely) that was so depleted of nutrients that it didn't even resemble soil. It was more like clay. Grub worms, giant wasps, mosquitoes, and other party critters were all making their home in our yard. Not a red worm did we find. Creeping vines of the wild and prickly variety were climbing and clinging to the out of control tree growth. Weeds were everywhere.
We brought in a truckload of topsoil, a ton of border stone, and decorative red mulch. After cleaning the leaves and cutting down many tree limbs, we rented a wood chipper and made more mulch for our garden paths.
We worked at it a solid three months every day.
After all the sweat, our yield was modest. Not as productive as we were hoping, but a miracle when you consider what we started with. Peppers were plentiful, but the tomatoes disappointed. Our pumpkin patch grew like crazy, but produced no pumpkins. We grew some cucumbers and the herb section did very well.
I cut my gardening teeth on this project. I never did anything like this before and I never realized what a job it is. Whew! I did learn a lot this first year and enjoyed my new hobby very much.
Better luck next season!
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Photos by Bob Chochola
THE "BEFORE" PHOTOS...
This wasteland known only as "the pen" prior to March 2008 was home to wasps, fire ants, snakes, roots, weeds, creeping vines, and ground that resembled something you might imagine astronauts would find walking on the moon.
It's nothing short of a miracle that anything worth eating would be picked here just four months later.
