Monday, September 11, 2017

2017 Garden Recap

gardentitle

Welcome to garden week here at On The Creek!

I honestly didn’t plan it this way, but I have a couple gardening related posts that I’ve grouped together to make an entire week full of gardening stuff!  I figured I should just get all of the gardening talk out of the way so I won’t have to mention it again until next May!

Today, we’re kicking things off with an in depth look at my own garden!

(In case you missed it, here’s the Garden Tour, July Update & August Update!  Also, here’s my Ultimate Stevia Guide!)

I would say that our first ever garden was a success!

Raised Garden Bed | DIY garden bedsRaised Garden Bed | DIY garden beds

In May, we built 2 raised garden beds from reclaimed materials we had at our house.  I figured since we went through the trouble of constructing garden beds, we might as well plant a few things…

Lady Bell Pepper PlantYellow Straightneck SquashEureka Cucumbers

I hastily went overboard at the local greenhouse & picked out random plants.  I actually thought I didn’t get enough plants, but I obviously underestimated the yield this small amount would bring in!

We had peppers, tomatoes, yellow squash, cucumbers & stevia.

Stevia PlantStevia PlantStevia Plant

I managed to kill 2 out of the 3 stevia plants.  The first one died after the planter started holding water after a heavy rain.  I didn’t realize it was drowning until a couple days later when I strolled out there to find a plant full of wilted leaves!  I don’t know what happened to the other plant.  One is still thriving, though!  I even thinking about bringing it inside for the winter as a houseplant!  We’ll see how that goes!

Cucumbers

The cucumbers didn’t do very well this year.  I think something got into them & ruined the vines.  We still managed to get 5 decent cucumbers that I turned into awesome refrigerator pickles!

Banana Pepper PlantBanana Pepper PlantGreen Pepper Plant

The peppers did okay.  The banana pepper plant did the best with 3 peppers.  The green peppers were in with the cucumbers so they may have suffered some damage from whatever was digging around in the cukes.

Yellow SquashYellow Squash Plant

The yellow squash were plentiful.  Some weird bugs got all over them towards the end of the season, though.  I can usually handle bugs, but these guys freaked me out!

Cherry Tomato PlantTomato PlantRoma Tomatoes on the vineRoma Tomatoes on the vineRoma Tomatoes on the vineChocolate Tomatoes

The tomatoes did very well in the garden.  For being in such a small space, the Roma tomatoes really thrived.  There were probably 50+ tomatoes that I harvested!  The leaves on the cherry tomato plant died, but it still produced a ton of tomatoes.  We also received a chocolate grape tomato plant from our neighbors, which also thrived.

Roma TomatoesBowl of Roma TomatoesCherry Tomatoes

I made pasta sauce from the tomatoes & my husband used the cherry tomatoes on his salads.

Now here comes the embarrassing part…here’s a picture of our garden:

Garden

What a mess!

Here’s what I’m planning on doing differently next year:

More Space

These little boxes worked well for this one year, but the garden really needs more space.  I’m planning on using the boxes for strawberries next year & putting the veggies in an actual garden.  We acquired some railroad ties & I’m planning on using them to construct a couple of huge raised beds.  I need more space!

More Veggies

I was super disappointed that I couldn’t grow corn or watermelon this year!  With more space, I’ll be able to grow a bigger variety of fruits & vegetables.  I’m also looking forward to picking out some strawberries for the small beds because I LOVE strawberries!

Garden Care

At first, I was all over the garden.  Then life happened & I kind of forgot about it until things got out of hand.  I’m hoping to make the garden more of a priority next  year.

I also found a few helpful links that I’ll definitely be implementing in my garden planning next year:

- 14 Vegetables To Grow In A Small Garden
- 24 Highly Creative & Clever Gardening Tricks/Tutorials To Enhance Your Garden
- DIY Garden Supports For All Types Of Plants
- Bottle Gardens
- The 35 Easiest Container and Pot Friendly Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs
- Vegetable Spacing Guide
- Companion Planting
- Easy Vegetables To Grow
- Vegetables & Herbs That Thrive In The Shade

Did you plant a garden this year?

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