Because my hubby was going to be away in AK for most of the summer, he kindly built me a small raised bed in the backyard so I could try my hand at a vegetable garden.
Last time we had an official garden was in MA, two moves ago. That one started out as a rock garden with ornamental plants, then some of the compost we were generating had acorn squash seeds in it, so we had all sorts of volunteer squashlings one year. That encouraged me to put a few more fruits/veggies in the next year, so the rocks had to share space with cantaloupes and the like. That house also had a small herb garden off the back porch.
The engineer I live with was disturbed by having flowers and food sharing the same space, so he made a rule about having only veggies or fruit in this new garden. (he made a rule about weeding while he was gone as well, but I don't remember signing any paperwork, so ......)
Given the cars in the driveways of the current neighborhood we live in (let's just say that our two nearly 10 year old japanese cars make us look like bumpkins who do not belong), I do not believe that many of our immediate neighbors have veggie gardens. The folks across the street are an exception. The houses are so big that you cannot easily look into people's backyards, so I have no easy way to confirm this by walking around the neighborhood and not getting to meet some of the local police officers.....
I learned some lessons about some things growing faster than others, overcapacity, and what the local varmints like to eat. The biggest lesson has been not to plant so many cucumbers!!!
Either the soil/compost was incredibly rich, or the gardner was incredibly skilled, or the combination of really hot temps and a reliable sprinkler system did the trick with these behemoths, I am not sure which.
The hubster had the great idea of making the bed almost 2 feet high instead of just 8 inches or so, and the topsoil he got was incredibly rich. This, and some other kind of rookie veggie-only gardner magic has resulted in the monster cucumbers pictured above.
I will be eating cucumber sandwiches until November!
Last time we had an official garden was in MA, two moves ago. That one started out as a rock garden with ornamental plants, then some of the compost we were generating had acorn squash seeds in it, so we had all sorts of volunteer squashlings one year. That encouraged me to put a few more fruits/veggies in the next year, so the rocks had to share space with cantaloupes and the like. That house also had a small herb garden off the back porch.
The engineer I live with was disturbed by having flowers and food sharing the same space, so he made a rule about having only veggies or fruit in this new garden. (he made a rule about weeding while he was gone as well, but I don't remember signing any paperwork, so ......)
Given the cars in the driveways of the current neighborhood we live in (let's just say that our two nearly 10 year old japanese cars make us look like bumpkins who do not belong), I do not believe that many of our immediate neighbors have veggie gardens. The folks across the street are an exception. The houses are so big that you cannot easily look into people's backyards, so I have no easy way to confirm this by walking around the neighborhood and not getting to meet some of the local police officers.....
I learned some lessons about some things growing faster than others, overcapacity, and what the local varmints like to eat. The biggest lesson has been not to plant so many cucumbers!!!
Either the soil/compost was incredibly rich, or the gardner was incredibly skilled, or the combination of really hot temps and a reliable sprinkler system did the trick with these behemoths, I am not sure which.
The hubster had the great idea of making the bed almost 2 feet high instead of just 8 inches or so, and the topsoil he got was incredibly rich. This, and some other kind of rookie veggie-only gardner magic has resulted in the monster cucumbers pictured above.
I will be eating cucumber sandwiches until November!
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