My neighbor has turned the majority of his large back yard into a garden. His garden is always amazing and produces a good portion of food needed for his family of six. To tell the truth, sometimes I’m just a tiny bit jealous.
But it’s A TON of work and I simply don’t have that kind of time.
I like to garden too but not on the same scale.
Working freelance means that sometimes I have a project (or two or three) due that takes my attention 24/7 for a week or more at a time. Which means if I have a very large garden it’s being neglected while I’m working on deadlines.
Due to my crazy schedule I had pretty much given up on having a garden in the past few years but this year I decided to compromise and put in a much smaller garden.
A garden that is crazy-busy creative goddess size!
I found some landscaping timbers behind our garden shed and created a bed that is 4 feet x 10 feet or so, layered in several layers of newspaper and then filled in with old shredded leaves from the compost bin and several bags of Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Garden Soil.
In the beginning I had 4 tomato plants and 1 basil but I’ve also had onions and salad greens in the bed.
It’s a much smaller garden the neighbors garden and much smaller than the one I used to have in our yard but so far this summer I’ve been able to keep up with it even while working on several large deadlines all at once.
Now I’m waiting for the tomatoes to ripen. I can’t wait for fresh tomatoes!!
Do you garden? How large is your garden and would you be more likely to garden if you created a smaller one?
Hi Vicki !
Wow! Nice garden, I have a similar size garden with tomatoes, eggplant and pepper in my yard. Even down to the white tubing which I keep green shade cloth on to protect everything from scorching heat.
Looks like you are going to have a nice batch of tomatoes there!
Hi Lisa,
My bed is situated near some trees so I don’t have to worry about the sun too much. It’s the frost in the spring and fall that will shorten my growing season. I’ll cover the bed with some plastic (need to research that) in order to extend the growing season a bit.
I love eggplant but didn’t put any of that in this year.
Crossing my fingers for the tomatoes! 🙂
I live in south Florida, which is crazy hot and humid in summer. It took years to figure out what I could plant and when, but still, a garden of annual food plants is time and labor intensive. Once I began having frequent migraines, planting a large garden like this became impractical, but it took me a while to figure that out, too, as I was determined and in denial. I would plant more tha I could care for and beat myself up for not being able to keep up with it. Everything would fall apart and I’d give up, defeated for another season. Then I started reading about permaculture and planting perennial food plants. This was the best thing I have ever done, garden-wise. Now I can literally walk out my door any day of the year and pick enough vegetables and fruit for several meals. My goal, which is now very attainable, is to be able to do that *every* day, supplying the vast majority of the veggies and fruit we eat. This can be done in most climates if we research and find the right plants and preserve our produce for dormant times. It has turned my gardening on its head and made me successful again! I now only grow maybe a dozen seasonal annual vegetable plants, and have turned to nearly exclusively perennial flowers as well. I plan to write a guide for doing this in my climate. We have lots of retirees here, and they struggle with the learning curve as well as the work involved. I want to help them save their strength and enjoy productive gardens at the same time!
Hi there,
I checked out your website and garden. What a lovely garden you have. I had never hard of permaculture before your comment. I’m sure our harsh Ohio winters rule out much in the way of growing food plants all year round but I think I will have to do some more research now.
I think it’s a great idea to write a guide for those who are learning how to garden in your climate. I’m sure many folks will find it highly useful!
Vicki
We have two raised bed gardens that we have a TON of tomatoes in one because the youngest son just planted until he ran out of plants. lol The other garden has bell peppers, cucumbers and potatoes. The oldest son wanted to try potatoes. I haven’t been able to work in the garden at all this year but the oldest son is taking care of it. We’ve gotten several bell peppers already, a couple of tomatoes ( and when those babies start ripening we’re going to be swamped in them) and there are a couple of cucumbers that are just about ready to pick. I love fresh tomatoes and can make a really mean salsa. I’m going to be having major back surgery (my third one) in which I’ll end up with a rod and screws next week so the hubby and son will have to put up a lot of salsa and tomatoes with my supervision. 🙂
Hi Barbara,
Can you ever have too many tomatoes? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. 🙂
I haven’t grown potatoes since I was a kid. Gosh, I hated picking them up!
Good luck on your back surgery and make sure the family takes good care of you.
If you’ll send me your mailing address I will send you a card. Not much, but just so you know someone is thinking of you.
creativegoddess (at) vickiodell (dot) com
Take Care!
Hi Vicki! Just went for my pre-op today and they discovered I have a critical iron deficiency. I’ll know much more tomorrow after they talk to my primary care doctor, but it looks like my surgery will be postponed until they figure out why I’m iron deficient. Kind of scary right now. Prayers are appreciated.
You got ’em. Prayers that is. 🙂
Keep me posted. OK?
Thank you!