You may be wondering if I've given up on the idea of my backyard overhaul because I haven't posted weekly updates as promised. Quite the contrary, I'm still totally into this project, the problem is that it requires a whole lot of money and time. The way my life seems to go is that I usually have only one of those at any given time - so progress is slow. I also had to take some time out to load up my container garden. Even though I cleared a patch in my garden, figuring I'd work around it, I don't think that we tilled the soil enough. Every seedling except for the brussels sprouts died, and the bunnies ate the sprouts. All the plants I brought home and stuck in the ground were still pretty much the same size two weeks later. My sweet peppers are still dwarves. So I moved as many plants as possible into containers to try to salvage at least some of the season. I pretty much let the rest of it go to weed. I'll pluck a brown bag or two every week, but I'm hoping to have the whole back of the yard covered in brown bags to get a fresh start next spring.
Note the sad, tiny pepper plants. Although the ones I moved are not too much bigger, they at least look alive. I didn't crop this photo at all, so you can see the scale next to grass.
Here are the transplanted peppers. Because I'm trying to get as much out of the ground as possible, I used some makeshift containers - an old dresser that is going to go to the trash heap soon, I may as well use the drawers for something right now. Transplanted my mint into another one.
Cucumbers, Chocolate & Citrus Mint, Lemon Balm, Potatoes.
So here's what I have so far (not too much, I'm afraid). I just did not have a whole lot of time to do any work because my shifts at work were incredibly insane. Now that I'm not working, I don't have a whole lot of money - everything we have has to be stretched a whole lot further than before, so I'll have to be a little more creative and work just a little slower, even though I actually have the time now.
Rear: Mint, Potatoes, Lavender. Front: Tomatoes.
I'll keep you posted. Not weekly as I had originally hoped, but I'll definitely keep you updated. I'll continue to post pics of my garden project, as well as my container veggies - let's see how well they do, how quickly they grow, and what food they bear.
Rear: Strawberries, Cucumbers, Mint. Center: Lemon Balm. Front: Peppers.
In the meantime, I've got some other projects underway (I may have ADD), and I'm happy to let you know how they pan out. I dug up one of the pitiful tomato plants that were left behind originally due to a shortage of containers and potting mix and am running a little experiment to see if my home brew of fertilizer can jolt it back to life.
Rear: Lavender, Yellow & Green Zucchini. Center & Front: Tomatoes.
And of course, I launched my new site dedicated to food, unusuallydelicious.weebly.com, where I post my recipes, trying to give you unusual if at all possible. I really wanted to focus on foraged food, but I found that those 'weeds' are most abundant in the spring, and I did not have too much time to go searching. I'll keep trying though. Oddly enough, the weed I was most looking forward to eating this season was purslane, and there's not even one in my weed patch (AKA my garden)! I found a couple of tiny plants in the front yard, but I sprayed them because they were right in front of the porch. I'll keep looking. Every year I have picked purslane from my garden all summer, so maybe I just need to have some patience.
Herb Garden (clockwise): Sage (grown inside from cuttings), Curly Parsley, Cilantro, Chamomile, Basil, Dill.
Unfortunately, the day I took these pictures (June 17, 2015), I neglected to take one of the "construction corner". Rest assured, it looked exactly the same at the last post (see it here), except for maybe some taller grass at the edges. I think hubby has given up on the edger this season... maybe he's not too impressed with the obstacle course I've set up in the yard this year.
Originally posted July 13, 2015 on sonjarants.weebly.com