This year I am going to expand my kitchen garden to include some more vegetables. Since we moved into our house three years ago, we have had one or two tomato plants each summer. Mostly we have lots of kitchen herbs (thyme, oregano, dill, sorrel, savory, etc.) and some fruit (raspberries, grapes and strawberries).
We purposefully left this little corner (to the right) of the garden empty because we plan on putting some kind of water feature there eventually. In the meantime, it was a good place for Sam's kiddie pool or for him to dig around in. This year we are going to use it to add some square footage for the additional tomatoes, peppers, etc.
I wasn't going to say anything but looking at the picture I really must. Our property ends with the fence and the grey border stone. Everything behind it is our neighbor's property, which they have elected to use as their junk depot. It drives me crazy! Last year I was having a conversation with her and she said, "I just love sitting on my patio and look into your garden." I am thinking, "I wish I could say the same." Hopefully this will be the year they finish up their yard.
I spent some time in the seed aisle last week and settled on three types of tomatoes, one hot pepper, and a mix of carrots. I also still have some salad, radish and bean seeds from last year. I tried my hand at salad last year and the snails really loved it. This year I will plant it in pots and hope that the snails don't find it.
Sam and I planted the tomato and pepper seeds in seedling pots and by mid-May they should be safe to plant in the ground. I just hope that these seedlings do better than the strawberries I tried growing last year. We are going to plant the remaining seeds directly into the ground or in the case of the salad in pots.
I have a total soft spot for violas and just couldn't walk by them at the garden center on Wednesday.
Have a great weekend!
We purposefully left this little corner (to the right) of the garden empty because we plan on putting some kind of water feature there eventually. In the meantime, it was a good place for Sam's kiddie pool or for him to dig around in. This year we are going to use it to add some square footage for the additional tomatoes, peppers, etc.
I spent some time in the seed aisle last week and settled on three types of tomatoes, one hot pepper, and a mix of carrots. I also still have some salad, radish and bean seeds from last year. I tried my hand at salad last year and the snails really loved it. This year I will plant it in pots and hope that the snails don't find it.
Sam and I planted the tomato and pepper seeds in seedling pots and by mid-May they should be safe to plant in the ground. I just hope that these seedlings do better than the strawberries I tried growing last year. We are going to plant the remaining seeds directly into the ground or in the case of the salad in pots.
I have a total soft spot for violas and just couldn't walk by them at the garden center on Wednesday.
Have a great weekend!
oh wow. I'm pretty sure your neighbors have zero motivation to finish their own yard when they can just admire yours. =(
ReplyDeleteStill, I'm impressed with your garden plans! Wow! That's going to be so satisfying...and yummy! =) I once lived with a roommate and we grew tons of salad on our fire escape in pots. Super easy (probably also super illegal)!
You can also put pots of old beer out there to attract/detract the slugs. You'd probably want some kind of cover over it, like a bird feeder type of thing, to keep out rainwater and pets. I once witnessed a weaving, drunk dalmatian who got into its owner's anti-slug beer pots, LOL!
LOL, Dogs do love their beer. I am pretty sure my cat wouldn't touch it. We so used our fire escape as a mini garden in Brooklyn. We even had a tomato plant and come to find out squirrels love green tomatoes.
DeleteWhere did you get your handy dandy seed starter box?
ReplyDeleteI bought it at our local garden center (we live in Germany). If you google "seed starter kit" you should be able to find something close. Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteI'm glad your back Momma, so jealous of your no snow yard...happy planting!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that we don't have snow. Hope spring comes your way real soon!
DeleteIt sounds like you have a good start on planning your garden. - I have an idea for the neighbors mess...it looks like there are some sort of stakes or something in the ground back there, is there any way you could put some strings up and plant a fast growing vine...maybe some kind of green beans or perhaps Scarlet Runners if they grow there. You get the idea I'm sure..It would be so nice to look at that this summer and it would block out the eyesore. - Have a great weekend. xo
ReplyDeleteYup, we do have stakes there. It is a little hard to tell, but we have grapevines planted there. We hope that once they mature they will do a nice job of covering some of the view. I will keep the beans in mind though. Thanks!
DeleteIch beneide dich gerade um deinen Garten - wir haben Balkon, das ist auch schön aber nicht das selbe.
ReplyDeleteThere's a few tricks for getting the snails to leave your plants alone -- and I will be doing all of them this year when we plant in our big garden again because the snails here are AWFUL!
ReplyDeleteBeer traps are the most common, but you can also put corn meal (or polenta) into a jar on its side in your garden. The slugs/snails eat it and crawl off to die. Also, you can crush up washed & dried egg shells and scatter tightly around your plants. They won't crawl over it since it hurts them.
Looking forward to seeing how it all goes! Feel free to pop by on Fridays for my Garden Life link up to remind us of your progress ;)
Beer traps kind of gross me out, but I will definitely give polenta and egg shells a try.
DeleteThere is so much going on in my garden right now. I definitely need to do a garden post.
Thanks for stopping by!