Marfisa's Garden

August 29

2010-08-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

Not much new this time, just more progress on the loofahs, which are maturing quickly.

I've got plenty of peppers ripening, too.

The new transplants all seem to be doing ok.

And the cypress vine is finally blooming! It looks like I got pink and red vines, though there was white in the seed packet too. Also, one flower has four points instead of five. I wonder how that happens?

August 22

2010-08-22T17:36:00.001-07:00

First, I made about three cups of pesto when I decided my basil was looking too ratty and I wanted a new. Most of it will be frozen, but we ate it with pasta and grilled chicken and could hardly stop eating, it was so good! It was seven cups of basil which made at least two cups of pesto, though it may have been more like three. I didn't measure it. Also, I used walnuts instead of pinenuts.

In garden news, it's time for fall planting!

I started some seeds indoors and finally planted them this weekend! There's new sweetcorn, squash, zucchini, and another cantaloupe. Unfortunately, I didn't mark which one was squash and which one was zucchini, so I won't know until they have female flowers.

Also, here is the young basil replacing the one that became pesto. And also a red basil I liked because it was pretty.

Also, the watermelon and canteloupe are getting lots of new growth. I thought the watermelon was done for, although I don't think it will produce any more this season.

I've got two new loofah gourds for a total of four on the same plant. I hope they all manage to ripen.

And lastly, the asparagus, so it doesn't feel left out.

August 8

2010-08-08T09:55:00.001-07:00

I forgot to update last weekend, but here is a picture from then. The canteloupe was very yummy, and very flavorful. Nice color too. It was at a perfect ripeness.

Also, the loofah gourds grow really fast. They were pretty small just two weeks ago.

I ripped out the tomatoes since they were defintely not producing anymore and were succumbing to the heat and disease.

Here are the other plots and you can see I also got rid of the dried out corn and the leftover salad greens in the plot with the green beans.

It's going to be time to plant again for a fall garden, so I'm getting a bunch of leftover flats for corn, squash, zucchini, and canteloupe again. I need to find out where I can get broccoli transplants too...

July 25

2010-07-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, it didn't take them long. The mints have grown back! And I've got two baby loofahs that are growing fast. Unfortunately, the fungus is really hitting the cucumbers hard, hopefully the spray I got for that will arrive in time to save them.

Meanwhile, basils seem to have dominated this plot.

And unfortunately, the tomatoes don't look too hot anymore.

The peppers are having a second big wave of growth and fruit though! The jalapenos are actually hot this time. I put two into some cornbread just now and was eating a bunch as I was chopping it up, leaving me with tingly lips. Yum! Even the habanero is finally producing!

The herbs are sprawling too and spilling over the edge of the wood like I'd hoped they would.

The corn is all dried up, but the greenbeans are making up for it.

And here is the asparagus looking super lush. The cypress vine should be blooming pretty soon. I spent like half an hour detangling it from the asparagus and winding it back up the trellis right before taking this picture.

Here you can see how out of hand the tomatillo has gotten. Then there is the mystery grain, and last, the lemongrass is finally forming a big clump like lemongrass should.

Future butterflies on rue! I wish the first two pictures hadn't come out so unfocused though.

A couple of pictures of the same plot from the back. The watermelon is succumbing to disease, and you can see tomatillo flowers. It's halfway up the trellis.

The swiss chard is almost as big as it was before I harvested it!

And lastly, two more pictures of the mint plot, with closeup of the two mints.

July 22nd Harvest!

2010-07-25T14:40:00.000-07:00

Harvest time for the watermelon and canteloupe! I actually cut the watermelon off the vine a few days before after being paranoid as to whether it was ripe or not. There was no spot on the bottom to become yellow, but it did have a tendril near the fruit which had dried up completely and the thump was hollow. The canteloupe was already mostly separated from the vine, I think 3/4 of the way around is the rule of thumb.

Haven't opened the canteloupe yet, but it smells very melon-y. It was hot and we needed some watermelon so...

Wow, that was a yummy watermelon! Sweet but not mealy and just enough for two people.

And the loofah is ready! It has turned brown and very light so I looked up how to harvest it. It's pretty easy, just hit against the ground to make the end fall off and seeds start pouring out. Then roll it on the ground to loosen the skin and peel it like a boiled egg. Easier said than done, but it was still pretty easy. Then rinse the loofah under hot water and let dry thoroughly in the sun and it's ready for use! Apparently you can get the color to be whiter by dipping in a bleach solution, but I think the natural color is fine.

June 27th

2010-07-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

I found a pretty caterpillar on the parsley!

The plot with watermelon and canteloupes is looking nice. Especially with the mystery grass (corn?) in the foreground. I've even got a watermelon and a canteloupe developing!

Fluffy asparagus.

The corn is defintely done now. I'm sad I didn't get any edible ears.

I harvested the chard and this is what's left.

Basil!

A bunch of tomatoes ready, which I harvested and you can really see that the peppers are all getting lush again. Even the habanero is growing now. The tomatoes became more pasta sauce of course.

I finally had to put a support on the loofah, it's gotten so big and heavy. Oops, I left one of the cucumbers on too long and it got bleached. I tried eating it but it was too bitter. Also, the mints got cut back again, even harder this time. Even though it's peppermint and not spearmint, I made Pudina (Mint) Potatoes from the fresh leaves. Wow, I never thought mint would go with potatoes but it's really nice this way! Looking for recipes to use up mint paid off!

June 10th

2010-07-25T12:51:00.000-07:00

Harvested a bunch of onions, roma tomatoes, and tomatillos.

The onions are all kind of small.

And I combined them with very meaty romas to make Alton Brown's Tomato Sauce which comes out with perfect texture and sweetness because it's roasted in the oven instead of simmered on a stove.

The tomatillos got turned into salsa using my onions and jalapenos, the only thing I had to buy was cilantro. Yum! It was perfect on the bean tamales my mom brought back from the Valley.

Unfortunately, my zucchini died of bacterial wilt, which is also killing the squash and has affected the cucumbers, which are alive but not producing much.

I bought some miracle grow plant food and used it on the peppers which were starting to turn yellow and lose their leaves. They're starting to recover nicely in this picture. Also the basil and herbs are doing great!

The corn didn't seem to grow very well. The husks only got half filled and the plants are starting to die. However, the green beans are starting to take off, with much greener leaves than before. Whatever disease it had, it seems to be gone.

All the mint family is doing great even after being cut back severely. You can see the weak and dying leaves on the cucumber in the foreground. It's hanging in there though and has a couple of cucumbers. The loofah is a related plant, but doesn't seem to have the disease. In fact the fruit is huge now.

You can see where I harvested all the carrots from one the plots. Strangely, the chard is doing great in the hot weather.

The watermelon is going all over the trellis and so is the canteloupe on the other side. It's blooming in the second picture. Unfortunately, I think one of the reasons I haven't had a decent harvest of anything is that I haven't seen any bees anywhere. The tomatillo is doing fantastic and has little tomatillos everywhere and is starting to bloom again. Not sure what pollinates it, but I must have a bunch of it. And finally, a caterpillar on the rue.

Here's the asparagus and the progress of the cypress vine.

June 4th

2010-07-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

I harvested carrots and a couple of sweet onions.

The onions are really good raw, I think we had them on some hotdogs a few times.

Although the carrots were small and had to be supplemented with some store-bought ones, there were plenty of greens to make Carrot Top Soup. Carrot tops taste a lot like parsley, and it was really good with grilled cheese sandwiches.

May 31st

2010-05-31T09:42:00.000-07:00

First off, some harvest info.

Here's another picture of some of the potatoes. These have been washed and became part of a pot roast. The insides were a golden yellow and they had a very smooth buttery texture. They had a great flavor too!

I took out the cilantro plant and harvested some of the coriander. There's still a ton to pick off.

Finally harvested some roma tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. The romas went into chicken curry, and the cherries will go into salad.

Speaking of salad, I harvested two squares (3oz) worth of salad greens, and when I harvest the other two squares, I'll replant them all.

Yesterday, I also harvested a whole bunch of chocolate mint (trying to get it under control), some peppermint, and stevia (natural sweetener). We had a cup of fresh peppermint tea with stevia. It tastes more "green" or fresh or something than dried tea (and the color was definitely greener), and the stevia has a syrupy mouthfeel, like honey. But I didn't put enough mint or stevia, so it was a little weak, but good overall. I've got all the sprigs drying in the garage.

Here's a picture of the whole garden.

And now the mint patch. Compare the first picture with the second and third. The first is before I trimmed all the mint and it was threatening to smother the plants behind it.

And here is the loofah vine. The last two pictures are from today, when the flowers opened.

And there are some more blossoms on my cucumber. I hope I get some fruit soon.

Here's the tomato/pepper patch. Big bertha, mariachi, jalapeno, golden summer.

The corn patch. The green beans have new healthier looking leaves. There's a new squash, and the corn is growing bigger.

The cool season patch. The onions look just about done, which means they'll be ready to harvest soon.

The asparagus patch. The cypress vine is really growing fast.

The former cilantro patch. As you can see, it's gone now and the lemon grass it was shading is growing better now. There's also my first okra pod, and some pictures of the watermelon and canteloupe.

End of May!

2010-05-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

Everything is looking better this week. Even though temperatures are consistently in the 90s, I've been watering less. I think was overwatering before.

First off, I harvested 2lb 4oz of potatoes! I think they're all yukon gold. Haven't eaten any yet though. There are a couple of big ones, but most are new potato size.

Then there's the mint plot. The loofah gourd is starting to flower, and I'm getting a couple of young cucumbers. The last picture shows the runners that the two mints are trying to send out. I need to cut them every time I see them before they take root.

The pepper/tomato plot. Big bertha bell, golden summer bell, mariachi peppers (there aren't that many left, I keep eating them), habanero (never grew), jalapeno, cherry tomato (sweet with a nice burst of flavor, can't wait to eat some in a salad!), roma tomato, zucchini (plenty of flowers but still no fruit).

Corn!

I take back what I said about the asparagus never looking different, it's big and really filling in now. Also the cypress vine I planted there is now climbing up the trellis.

The cilantro/parsley plot, tomatillo, okra, close-up of okra flower bud, rue and stevia, unidentified corn thing with lots of parsley in background, a bug on the tomatillo, lemon grass (it's growing veeery slooowly), coriander.

The cool season plot, some young salad greens, two now empty square where the potatoes were, red onions, radishes and sweatpea (the radishes didn't radish properly), red onions.

And some random pictures from the mint plot... an almost ripe strawberry and a view behind the mint where you can see lavender, lemon balm, and rosemary, with strawberries in the foreground.

May 15th

2010-05-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

Actually, I took some pictures the day before when I harvested a bunch of strawberries.

I also happened to find a couple of swallowtail butterfly caterpillars on my dill! I'm really hoping I'll get some monarchs on my rue too, but I haven't seen any yet.

First off, there were several successful harvests this time!

I got a yellow squash! The one from the previous update didn't develop properly, but this one did. It had a nice flavor (not so watery tasting) and more flesh vs seeds than the ones I'm used to. It seemed to take longer to cook too, but that might be my imagination. It was delicous roasted with only olive oil, salt, and pepper.

It's hard to tell what this is, but it's jalapeno cornbread! It's not shown, but I had to make a divider with foil and make half of it withough jalapeno since my GF won't eat them.

And the pièce de résistance! I finally found a way to use some mint! (Although the chocolate mint plant is so massive you can't even tell I took any...) Rahenna found the recipe on the blog Not so Humble Pie for a Fresh Mint Truffle Tart and was going to cry if we didn't make it.

And now on to the plants...

The chocolate mint is especially massive and really does taste a little like an Andes Mint. The next picture is another view where you can see the strawberries, of which there is a closeup.

The pepper/tomato plot. The zucchini in the corner seems happy and has been flowering for a while, but no zucchinis yet. Bell pepper and roma tomatoes are next.

I found a ladybug on the greenbeans, and some beans.

Other than the greenbeans, everything else in this plot looks great and the corn is flowering.

Asparagus. I don't know why I always take a picture of it, it never changes really.

Two views of the cilantro/parsley plot (dill is the right foreground of the first pic, yum!). The tomatillo plants are big now, with plenty of young tomatillos. Canteloupe and coriander are the last two pictures. Neither the canteloupe or watermelon are growing very much and it's starting to worry me.

The cool season plot. Strangely enough, the kale and swiss chard are finally taking off! The next picture shows an onion that has a nice large bulb. They should be ready to harvest soon. The last picture shows the squares with potatoes (foreground) and carrots.

May 8th

2010-05-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

I harvested a greenbean and two strawberries. I had already harvested the first strawberry sometime before. Anyway all the strawberries were yum and ripe all the way through!

It was hard to tell with the greenbean if it was better than a storebought bean or not, since it was only a single bean.

May 2nd

2010-05-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

No news, just pictures.

Some general views of all the plots-

The potatoes looked like they were dying of some disease, but in hindsight they were probably just dying off like they were supposed to... I hope.

My first squash! It ended up not developing correctly though.

Roma tomatoes, bell pepper, bell pepper (I can't remember which variety is which), jalapeno, mariachi peppers-

Cucumber, an actual greenbean, coriander (cilantro seeds), tomatillo-

April 24

2010-05-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

I finally got all the pictures off the camera so now I have to fill in the posts for the missings weeks.

First up is my first big failure.

The spinach was looking like it was going to bolt, so I harvested all of it. Unfortunately, I had used seaweed fertilizer the day before and although I thought I washed it very well, it was inedible after it was cooked. It was like the residue from the fertilizer was too sticky to wash off or something. Yuck. Looked pretty though. It was sauteed with garlic.

In better news, everything was coming along nicely.

Here is the plot with mint, strawberries, cucumber and loofah. I finally found a bee balm to put in the corner.

A view of the plot with herbs, peppers and tomatoes-

Mariachi peppers, jalapenos, one of the bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes-

The salad and corn plot. The greenbeans in this plot aren't doing too well for some reason. The leaves are light yellow and even the ones that are green seem to be warped.

Asparagus-

The cool season plot. You can see the remains of the harvested spinach and replanted salad greens in the squares that had broccoli.

The cilantro and parsley plot.

Purslane, some random-interesting-seeds-some-doves-left-so-I-planted-them (I think it's a type of corn), okra is finally starting to grow bigger, tomatillo, watermelon and canteloupe-

Starting to see fruits...

2010-04-19T18:42:00.000-07:00

First, I harvested 2.7oz more of salad, which we ate Caesar style with some really delicious garlic chicken confit. The herbs were all straight from the garden, too!

Back in the garden, a few of the plants are getting ready to produce!

I can see the female flowers of squash and zucchini filling out and nearly ready to bloom.

The roma tomato has its first little tomato-to-be.

And the mariachi pepper and jalapeno have baby peppers. So do the bell peppers, but I didn't take a picture. Oops.

The thyme is in full bloom now and quite tasty!

I planted some flowers in the plots with no climbing plants. One is cypress vine (with the asparagus) and the other is sweetpeas (next to the radishes).

My basils are coming in nicely, and the onion flowers are filling out with the bumps of flower buds.

Yay, random pictures!

Another harvest!

2010-04-12T17:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend we ate what is probably the last of the broccoli and I harvested nearly 3 oz of mixed greens (2.7oz to be exact). It was enough for two salads with extra left over and there is plenty more where it came from. I don't have a picture of the salads, but I did take one of the broccoli.

Some things like the cucumber, melons, loofah, and okra seem to be growing very slowly. Is that normal? Other things like the tomatoes and peppers are getting big and already trying to flower.

Other plants already in flower mode are the asparagus, cilantro, and onions, which are just sending up buds.

Lots of basils, although I can't remember the types right now. I know at least one is Thai.

This weekend's general plot pictures-

Lastly, here are two shots of the whole garden-

First week of April

2010-04-05T13:46:00.001-07:00

We harvested some more broccoli! There was more thist time and I think the two harvests combined are about a small to medium head's worth. Hopefully, the rest of secondary heads will get bigger before the heat gets to them. This time I got a picture of the steamed broccoli with its beautiful dark green color.

The thyme is starting to bloom. Before I put down the mulch, it was starting to spread like crazy. It doesn't look like it can spread too easily anymore with the mulch.

For some reason, the strawberry roots I got didn't ever grow, so I bought a bunch of Seascape plants and replaced them. They're everbearing and should start producing around June.

And my purslane is coming along nicely!

And now some general progress pictures. The green beans are starting to climb the trellis!

Homegrown salad!

2010-04-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

First of all, Rahenna just told me my comments were broken. So now they're fixed!

Apparently she is now a lolcat in my garden eating my radishes. Teehee!

Anyway, we had homemade pizza on Thursday because we had to make and eat something quick before a conference call she had to be on. Luckily, I had made bread dough the day before and we had mozzerella and spaghetti sauce so while waiting for the oven to heat up, I offered to get some greens for a side salad.

There were just enough mature lettuces for me to cut off enough for two small salads. Yum!

And here was our delicious pizza. We really need a pizza stone...

First Harvest and Mulch!

2010-03-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

Although I never got around to posting about it. We've already eaten from the garden.

Back on March 16, I harvested a radish that seemed loose. We cut it in half and ate it. Besides looking perfect, it was juicy and had a nice bite!

On the 24th we harvested the rest. Unfortunately, in one of the squares, the radishes hadn't formed radishes at all or were small and rotten. Maybe they were too crowded? In the other plot I only lost a few that looked inedible. In total, I harvested 13 radishes. Less than half. Oh well, at least they're delicious. I've replanted, so hopefully round two will be more successful.

I also didn't get much out of the broccoli. One small head was about to flower so I harvested both. They were about a quarter or less the size of a full head of broccoli, so they were just a single serving. We steamed them and they turned the darkest green I have ever seen on a broccoli! And they tasted great! Both of us wished there were more. Oh well. There will be secondary heads and the stems later, which you can see in the second picture.

I also got around to buying mulch this weekend. No one had the coir mulch that comes in a cube that I really wanted, so I just bought native mulch from Houston Garden Center instead. The dark color really makes the green of the plants stand out and they should be much happier now that the soil won't dry out and get a hard crust.

I took a bunch of general pictures.

I hope more basil seeds sprout. It will be pretty sparse in the square if they don't.

Late Update

2010-03-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

The weekend was terrible. It was cold and rainy, then cold and very windy. Some of the plants were showing cold damage today, like the basil and the watermelon seedling.

Nevertheless, I finally managed to find a "Texas tarragon" (also known as Mexican mint marigold, since real tarragon won't grow well here) at Ace Hardware, and bought that along with a lemon balm, so my mostly herb plot is looking slightly better. I'm still waiting for the strawberries to come up. There's no sign of green on them yet.

The full plot, lemon balm, texas tarragon, cucumbers, loofah gourd

Here is the plot with the tomatoes and peppers. The basil has a bit of a brown tinge, but you can't really see it. After that are a basil seedling and zucchini seedling.

Here another plot with progress of corn, salad greens, scallions, greenbeans

Almost all the squares of the asparagus plot have shoots now.

The watermelon in this plot is a little yellowed from the cold. The cantaloupe seeds were eaten? by ants, but I put ant bait out today and reseede both those and more watermelon seeds in case this one doesn't make it.

From left to right - watermelon, whole plot, purslane

And last but not least, the cool weather crop patch! The broccoli is looking about ready to harvest, and some of the rest of the crops got a little battered by the wind and rain. The potatoes on the right-hand side are really pretty.

Oh, and we ate our first radish a while back, but I'll post about that later. It was delicious!

Harvest Dates

2010-03-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

For my reference...

swiss chard - harvest when leaves are 4 to 5 inches long, full flavor at 60 days
kale- 70- 90 days for full maturity, but harvest lower leaves earlier over longer time
spinach- 45-50 days
carrots - 75 days
cucumber - 45-50 till flowering
loofah- sept to nov
yellow squash/zucchini - 60 to 70 days for bloom
potatoes - 90 - 110 days
cantaloupe - 85 to 100 days
corn - 80-100 days
okra 65 - 75
onion 90-130 days
pepper - 70 - 100 days
watermelon 80-100 days

planted beg of feb-
radish- beginning of april
swiss chard - mid april
kale- end of april
spinach- mid april
carrots - end of april
potatoes - may

planted beg of march
cucumber - bloom in may
loofah- sept to nov
yellow squash/zucchini - bloom in may
cantaloupe - june
watermelon - june
corn - june
okra - may
onion - june- july
pepper - may - june

Mid March

2010-03-14T17:36:00.000-07:00

Wow, lots of seeds sprouting in just a week! A couple I didn't take pictures of include lemongrass and basil!

First, I'll start with the box planted in February. The potatoes are coming up nicely and I've already started mounding the soil around them. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm not going to get any broccoli, the weather warmed up too fast. Radishes should be ready for harvest at the end of this month! Next time, I'll plant each square 15 days apart for two small harvests rather than one huge one.

From left to right- potato, radish, chard, broccoli, kale, spinach

Here's a view of the farthest left-hand bed. I bought a tomatillo today and there is also lemongrass sprouting that is not pictured.

From left to right- whole bed, okra, tomatillo

More asparagus is coming up and leafing out.

Here are pictures from the middle right-hand bed. All the corn is coming up. In the morning, they just looked like sprouts, by the afternoon, they looked like they had leaves!
From left to right- salad greens, green bean, green bean, summer squash, corn

Also today, I bought genovese basil for the nearest right-hand bed. Chives are sprouting and also some basil, probably thai.
From left to right- whole bed, basil, chives

I've got cucumber sprouting in the nearest left-hand bed.

First Week of March

2010-03-06T16:12:00.000-08:00

Well, this weekend I planted pretty much the rest of the garden, with a few transplants, but mostly seeds. It left me really sore, and until the seeds sprout, I don't really have much to show for it. Everything that was previously planted is coming along nicely.

Here are a couple of mints. There's strawberries behind them, but they were roots, not transplants so it will be a while before they appear.

This plot with herbs previously, now has the tomatos and peppers!

I've got a lot more lettuce sprouts...

The radishes are getting lots of leaves...

All the potatoes have sprouts (though I only show one)...

The kale has leaves and I reseeded the neighboring plot. Hopefully it comes up soon.

The spinach is looking good.

The swiss chard seems a little slow in comparison though.

And I couldn't find sweet potato slips, so one square gets a dill instead. Still need to think of something for the remaining square that was supposed to get them.

I'm still missing a few herbs and things, like rosemary, basil, bee balm, rose geranium, and I know I'm forgetting something...

Anyway, I hope next weekend the beds finally look like they're utilized.

End of February

2010-02-28T09:28:00.000-08:00

It looks like everything came through the cold days fine and is mostly right on track.

I'm still waiting for one of the kales to sprout, so far I have 25% germination on those. Also waiting on a few spinach, carrots, and chard. The radishes are pretty much all up and thinned to 16 per square. Some of them already have their real leaves coming in. I hope I get a lot of growth this next week, since I'm supposed to mound up soil for the potatoes next weekend, but I only have a single tiny sprout so far.

Here's how things are looking so far. From left to right, top row - radishes, onions, potato, chard. Second row - carrots, broccoli, garlic, lettuce.

And here are some plants I got at the Harris County Agrilife Extension spring plant sale. I got tomatoes (viva italia and Texas wild cherry), bell peppers (big bertha and golden summer), habanero, jalapeno (mucho nacho), and mariachi peppers. These will be going in the ground next weekend along with all the rest of the seeds, finally filling all the squares.

I have sprouts!

2010-02-19T17:18:00.000-08:00

The garlic is starting to come up and my radishes are sprouting!

It's going to be really hard for me to kill the weaker sprout of each pair.

Also, one of the broccolis looks a little bent from being covered up during the cold snap. I hope it's ok.

For more pictures from today, see this page of my gallery.

Planting time!

2010-02-14T19:49:00.000-08:00

Yep, planting time already. While most of the country is still knee-deep in snow.

The planting schedule this far south is almost opposite of everyone else. January is the only month without planting, and summer is treated more like winter since the heat is so brutal. I used the planting calendar from Texas Gardener to figure out the right times.

Before the garden beds were even made, my GF Rahenna helped me set up my plots in OneNote.

So, during the trip to Wabash Feed and Antiques, I bought tons of heirloom seeds and some herbs along with the compost and I was just starting to plant when the handyman came by to finish up. The beds were still missing little decorate parts on the corners and I had finally decided where I wanted the trellises.

Here they are finally finished and planted with the stuff scheduled for February.

My new square foot garden!

2010-02-05T09:11:00.000-08:00

My GF and I just moved into our new house in Katy, TX a few months ago and I'm about to finally have my dream garden! Well, half my dream garden so far. A vegetable garden is just part of what I want for the backyard. Eventually I want half as a vegetable garden and orchard, and the other half as a cottage-garden style hummingbird and bee garden. Plus a pergola over the porch with wisteria.

As the title says, this will be a square foot garden. It's a method of intensive garden so you can get a lot of produce out of small spaces. If you're interested, you can read more here.

I had a handyman make six 4x4 beds for vegetables in one half of the backyard. Here they are nearly complete.

At this point, I wasn't sure where I wanted the trellises, so they're not in the ground all the way. Also, I was warned away from using the Mel's mix and went with a recommendation of vegetable garden soil (with manure and some other type of compost) and leaf mold compost.

It's pretty ambitious to have six beds from the beginning, but I figured with the cost of the cedar and the handyman's time, it was cheaper than waiting until later.

Anyway, here's some pictures. Click to see them larger.