Garden Update

This is our first year of REALLY planting a garden.  In the past I tried to grow a few things (one year even in the square foot box I ordered online).  Usually it was just a few pots of herbs and some failed tomatoes.  My problem is I get lazy and forget to water everything and in the Georgia summers that just doesn't cut it.  

This year will be different though.  I am determined to grow something of substance and begin learning about growing my own food.  That, combined with the 9-year-olds (be it short-lived) desire to have a garden had me placing a decent sized order for seeds in the late Winter.  We combed over our High Mowing Seeds catalog and chose what we wanted to grow and what we thought we had enough sunlight for.  

We started with trying to start a few seeds indoors.  That didn't turn out so well.  Our tomatoes and Iko Iko peppers just didn't do so hot so, I abandoned starting them inside and just waited until it was warm enough to throw everything outdoors.  I ended up having to purchase small tomato plants since I wasted all our seeds trying to DIY it.  We ended up purchasing a mixture of plants from the big box garden store and through our CSA market.  

Once it was warm enough we started with green arrow peas, zucchinis, cucumbers, spring mix, carrots basil, rosemary, spinach and jalapenos.  In the back of the house we planted our tomato plants in buckets and some organic potatoes I had saved in a large garbage can.  We quickly ran out of space and added a second box of onions, sunflowers, cosmos and some thinned cucumbers and zucchinis (I went a little crazy with the seeds).  We were also gifted some free strawberry plants and raspberry plants from a kind neighbor and added more strawberry plants, all in pots next to the boxes.  

I ended up having to thin the cucumbers and zucchinis big time so some zucchinis were moved to a spot in the back yard under this strange flower pot thingy that is filled with basil seedlings. 

 (first box with jalapenos, carrots, spring mix, zucchinis, peas, cucumbers and spinach)

 (potato can)

 (thinned zucchinis underneath weird planter thing filled with basil)

 (second box with onions, dill, sunflowers, cosmos, more zucchini and cucumbers)

(16 tomato plants of various varieties)

Now one month later, things are coming along pretty well.  I managed to rehab the fledgling cucumber plants and zucchinis that looked a little rough in the beginning.  Here is how things looked over the weekend:

(Various strawberry plants, basil, rosemary and wildflowers in pots.  newish greens and spinach along with some extra sunflowers in gifted pallet)

 (salvaged cucumbers in long pot)

 (second box still coming along with added marigolds)

 (original box with added marigolds, re-homed jalapenos and some cucumbers that need to be thinned again badly)

 (peas coming in)

(more peas and cucumbers on back deck)

There you have it...one month of work and growth.  Still doesn't look like a lot, but its improvement.  We have been weighing and tracking all that we harvest so we can see at the end of the year what we have grown.  SO far we have a whopping 1 lb of berries, a few ounces of spring mix and a gallon freezer bag of basil that I haven't weighed yet.  Creeping along y'all, creeping along.