I Just Can't Help Myself

I have been trying to figure out how to get more growing space out of my little backyard. Last week while at work I had a flash of an idea. Re-do the back garden area where the potato beds are.



I would have to pull out the yellow angels trumpet and pull the beds apart. So that is just what I did today.



I started this angels trumpet from a 5 inch cutting a few years ago. This guy grew to be over 12 feet high. Don't let anyone tell you they are hard to grow.



I had Sweet Husband cut down the tree to about 4 feet.



Then I had to get the beds moved out of the way so I could start digging it out.



It took about an hour to pull this bad boy out.



The beds are out and now it's time to lay out were the new wooden potato bins will go. The long season potatoes will go straight back against the side fence where they will get the most sun. The mid season bin will go to the right against the back fence.



This will still give me plenty of room for a 5 x 3 bed along the back fence.



Tomorrow we will frame out the new bins and put them in their new homes...



Photo below: The new bed is completed.

Sweet Husband put up an old trellis I had lying around.



I'm thinking I will use half the bed for early potatoes and the other half for something I can trellis... maybe some winter squash.



Photo below: I put some potted plants in the open area for now. Looks cute.



Other garden news....

Photo below: I still have some cucumbers growing.



Photo Below: My brocolli is starting to form flower heads.



Photos Below: Sugar snap peas are a good Fall crop for my garden.






Photo Below: Pink angels trumpet



Next post... Completed potato bins.

It's Official...

Today I harvested the rest of the spaghetti squash, all 27.9 lbs of it.
I have now officially grown over 100 pounds of produce. 120 lbs and 7 oz's to be exact.

Random Stuff in the Garden

Todays harvest gave me...
3 baby cucumbers 11.2 oz's
1 english cucumber 8.1 oz's
1 spaghetti squash (it fell off the vine) 1 lb 8.8 oz's
9 pole beans 1.9 oz's (a nice addition to tonights dinner)

My total harvest is now at 98.8 lb. I still have 11 spaghetti squash to pick. I will definitely make it to 100 lbs of harvest for 2009. Nice!

This weekend we will start to build one of two potato towers. I was able to score some free wood for this project. Below is a photo of where the towers will go. The long season potato tower will go up against the fence where it will get the most sun. The second tower will replace the small brick potato bed used this season for early potatoes. The second tower will be used for the mid season potatoes.



Photo below: I found a bed for the sweet potatoes. This area was not being used for anything...



... so I cleaned it out and dug in some home made compost. I will build up the front with one more layer of bricks to make it a bit deeper. This area gets great sun most of the year.



Photo Below: The garlic is doing very well. I think I will have better luck this time around. The onions in the back of the bed are also looking happy.



Photo Below: The brocolli in bed 3 is getting bigger everyday. Though I do seem to have one runt in the bunch.



Photo Below: I am so happy to see how well the sugar snap peas are doing. They have started to flower and I should have peas in about a week or so.



Photo Below: Bed 3



Photo Below: Pole beans.



Photo Below: The brussels sprouts are growing very slowly. I guess that is to be expected with only a few hours of full sun.



Photo Below: The last of my Fall raspberries. I was really surprised at how sweet they were. Much sweeter than the spring crop.



Photo Below: I let my main strawberries keep their runners. I planted some in a container between the two potato beds.

Bed 4 Slide Show

***spaghetina, Thanks for reading my blog.***

Bed 4 Harvest so far...

Lettuce 6 1/2 pounds

Bush Beans 2 pounds

Spinach 6.3 oz's

Carrots 2.3 oz's This was a bit of a bust but I am trying again. I will grow carrots!

Round Zucchini 4 pounds

Onions 4 1/2 pound

Garlic 1.4 oz's Didn't do so well with the garlic. I have planted more to over winter in bed 2. So far so good.

Spaghetti Squash 10 pounds. I still have 13 squash to harvest. This should take me over the 100 pound mark for this season.



Currently growing in bed 4
Lettuce
Spinach


The potato beds pulled in 4.7 pounds of early potatoes. I can't complain. I didn't think I would get any. I just placed my order for seed potatoes for 2010. They will arrive the first week of January for a mid month planting. I can't wait.

The potted raspberries have given me 2.8 pounds.

So overall this has been a successful growing season for me. Remember I came into this not knowing a thing about vegetable gardening. But with the help of my family, many of my readers, and the will to make it happen, I can now say I'm a vegetable gardener.

I think my biggest challenge for next season will be the pests. I was lucky this year but I'm sure they have found my garden and are safely tucked away in the soil for a long winters nap. Come Spring they are going to be really hungry. I'll be ready for them.

If you are thinking about putting in a vegetable garden... Go for it. You will find it very rewarding to know you can provide healthy foods for you and your family.

Bed 3 Slide Show

Bed 3 2009 harvest so far...


Bell Peppers 5 pounds

Pumpkins 6 pounds

Canteloupe It was just a wee thing weighing in at 6.4 oz's but it sure was good.

Basil Lot and lots of basil. I weighed only 1 pound of basil and stopped weighing after that. I would just go out to the garden and picked what I needed.





Currently growing in bed 3

Basil: I will let the basil continue as long as it wants.

Carrots: 8 squares

Chard: 4 squares

Broccoli: 6 squares

Snap Peas: 4 squares

Bed 2 Slide Show

Bed 2 harvest so far this year...

Cucumbers 32 pounds
Watermelon 2 pounds
Corn complete bust...a big fat zero... Just not enough sun.





Currently planted in bed 2

Cucumbers: They are just about ready to pull out. I have a few cucumbers that are ripening and a few new flowers. I'll let them go until November since I don't have any plans to plant anything in those 5 squares.

Cauliflower: Six Squares, one each. Not sure I will have enough sun to get them to maturity.

Garlic: Two squares, a total of 24 garlic. I know I could have gotten 36 in there.

Onions: Two squares.

Carrots: Three squares.

I still have a few empty squares to fill. More onions maybe?

The Weekend and a Slide Show

The weekend was all about getting the yard ready for the rain storm coming through today.

Sun shades had to be taken down. Patio furniture put away and clean out the gutters.



I did take the time to plant brussels sprouts in bed 1...



onions in bed 2...



...and picked the pumpkins on a stick.





I thought I would put together a slide show of each of the beds from the start of the season.

Here's the first of 4... Bed 1



Check back for more slide shows...