Tag Archives: vegetable growing

Alternate Uses for a Dining Room

Don’t have a grow table? Don’t worry! A card table in your formal dining room works just fine:

Let’s have a closer look at Operation Homegrown Eats 2013:

This certainly isn’t the prettiest operation ever, but hopefully it’ll be an effective one. Last year I bought a grow kit; this year, I went with the “use watcha got” mentality. And I’ve got an array of plastic pots, a flat, and a bunch of seeds. I even reused flower tags to make new veggie tags. And since I don’t have a clear lid to place atop all this, I’m going to see if plastic wrap can create the same greenhouse effect.

The more I write, and the more I look at the photos, I realize how completely janky this operation is. Which is funny, because I’m usually as much about the fashion as the functionality. But, seed-starting season kind of crept up on me. I mean, we just experienced Snowmaggedon 2013 last week, so this whole concept of Spring seems pretty unrealistic. I’m just hoping that I don’t end up starting over before these puppies ever make it into the ground (that happened last year… no thanks to the teeny tiny slots in the grow kit… no where near big enough to accomodate the roots of a summer squash seedling!)

Anywho, I planted 2 types of tomatoes (Brandywine and Salad Hybrid), cucumber, summer squash, zucchini squash, green onion, cilantro and basil. And I’ll probably end up buying green peppers, more herbs, and maybe another cantaloupe plant. That thing did alright last year.

It’s Aliiiiiiiiive!

Thought I’d share another update on our veggie garden! It’s been 5 weeks since we planted our garden, and things are literally bursting at the seams!

The squash is like the vegetable version of the Incredible Hulk – see how the leaves are squished up against the netting!! But no zucchinis to eat yet.

I have a tendency to make a lot of impulse purchases from the veggie, fruit and herb section at Lowe’s. Weird, I know. I guess it could be worse. This summer’s impulse buy was 1 tiny cantaloupe in a 3-inch pot. Fast-forward 5 weeks and it has completely consumed the left-hand side of the bed. It’s growing up the side of the netting and sending little shoots out that grasp onto anything within reach – zucchini stems, the tomato plants, etc. It’s threatening to overtake the strawberry plant behind it, but I’m keeping it in check with my handy dandy clippers! I think this means I’d better create a more solid plan before I plant next year’s veggies!

My 4 cucumber plants have a lot of small shoots on them, and one in particular is starting to look like an actual cucumber! Hopefully it’ll be ready to harvest soon!

I also noticed a few tomatoes hiding among the leaves…

I definitely waited a little too long to transplant my veggies – I know a lot of people have been harvesting for a few weeks now. But maybe this means we’ll be reaping in fresh produce into the fall months!

Vegging Out – Part II

I have finally taken the leap & planted my veggies in the ground! Eek! I know it sounds silly, but this was kind of a big deal for me, mostly because I have an uneasy feeling that every deer within a 10 mile radius is going to feast like there’s no tomorrow. And I’ll be left with a bed full of half-chewed leaves.

But anyways, let’s get to how it went down. First, I chose the area that I wanted to use, then Tom & I cleared it. I loosely referenced square-foot gardening guides, and decided to try a 3×6 area:

clearing the future garden space of leftover straw from the grass seeding

Tom used the end of a shovel to section off the area, and then we began digging up the grass. We added 4 bags of topsoil and mixed in 1 bag of manure. We bought the cheapest topsoil and manure we could find at Lowe’s (the brand is Gardener’s Pride). Once it was spread around to our satisfaction, we drew 1×1 foot lines in the soil with the edge of our shovel so I could break down plant placement within each square.

1×1 foot sections — ready for planting!

I lined up my plants, and once they were in the right spot, in the ground they went! Here’s a shot of the final product (before we draped them in netting to keep the critters out):

the finished product

I won’t insult your design-savvy eyes with the rudimentary Microsoft Word table I drew of the bed plantings. Just know that I have it for reference 🙂 Hopefully, in the next few weeks, we’ll be reaping in crops of tomatoes, green bell peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, cantaloupe and strawberries!

Have you ever tried square-foot gardening? What was your experience like?