Vegetable garden

Nancy Carter
Nancy Carter Posts: 202 ✭✭✭
edited November 2020 in Vegetables

I thought I would share today my vegetable garden. I am growing tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, cantaloupe, radish,collard and mustard greens, Brussels sprout, bell peppers, carrots, peas, and watermelon. This area is approximately 15 feet by 20 feet. My husband took pallets and we stood them up to create a structure for the climbers to grow on. I hope this gives a good idea of what I am trying to create! In the background we have a peach tree and my grapes waiting to be planted. Most of the vegetables I grew from seed in the house from late winter! Others I purchased from our local Amish stand here in town. I live in North East Pennsylvania! In the United States of America. Any suggestions or ideas are welcome!


Comments

  • Shelba
    Shelba Posts: 13 ✭✭✭

    Is it not amazing how much you can produce from such a small area? Your garden is far better weeded than mine is, generally. Your pallets are very attractive!

  • Nancy Carter
    Nancy Carter Posts: 202 ✭✭✭

    @Shelba it seems the weeding never ends! At the same time i enjoy the process. This area was a flower bed for the past 5 years and I decided to change directions and grow food there instead!!

  • AvaAnder
    AvaAnder Posts: 5 ✭✭✭

    I love your frames.  Yeah those weeds are touch to eradicate.  Have you thought about using wood chip for mulching your gardens?  I use it and it breaks down into rich compost/soil for feeding all the critters/earthworms etc.

  • Leediafastje
    Leediafastje Posts: 97 ✭✭✭

    I agree with other comments ... the pallet frames are a great idea! Your garden looks good.

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    What a great garden. My thoughts are to add mulch. Hay, straw, sugar cane etc. Whatever you can get your hands on. Keep the weeds down and the moisture in. Then it breaks down adding organic matter to your soil, feeding the microbes, which in turn, help feed your plants. Win, win.

  • gardneto76
    gardneto76 Posts: 528 ✭✭✭✭

    What a beautiful garden and right off the front porch. I miss being around all the beautiful green.

  • Nancy Carter
    Nancy Carter Posts: 202 ✭✭✭

    Thank you all for your thoughts and ideas! I will get some mulch type of ground cover to help enhance the soil and get rid of the weeds!!

  • greyfurball
    greyfurball Posts: 591 ✭✭✭✭

    My garden was built right on top of an old dumpsite so the dirt underneath is worthless. The first year I spent the whole summer trying to dig it up and finally decided this is a futile waste of time.

    So I spent the whole Fall and winter getting my hands on every piece of cardboard boxes I could find. Then in the Spring of the next year I laid that cardboard, overlapping everywhere, and then got some organic soil from a local farmer and dumped that in a bunch of raised beds I put on that cardboard. It has now been four years since I did that.

    I have tended my soil every year since and now I have beautiful soil. I have even been able to use some in-ground soil on the outer perimeter where the junk underground was not there.

    So I learned a very valuable lesson in that procedure. I very rarely have any weeds! That's because every pathway was covered with cardboard. The only weeds I still get to date is what the birds, pets, critters, etc bring into my garden area.

    But I live in the country so I can get pine needles for free twice a year (the trees shred them), I get leaves galore every Fall, I can get mulch shred very inexpensive when I thin out the greens on my property etc.. So just for prettiness sake, I cover up the cardboard pathways usually once a year with whatever I can get.

    It keeps the garden area looking so very neat and clean I hardly ever do any weeding. And it takes next to no time at all to set it up and maintain. Just remember, if you decide to do this, make sure you overlap your cardboard or the weeds will grow thru every spot you butted each piece of cardboard together.

  • herbantherapy
    herbantherapy Posts: 453 ✭✭✭✭

    This is not just super productive but really adorable!! FYI if you grow comfrey it makes an excellent mulch!!

  • Nancy Carter
    Nancy Carter Posts: 202 ✭✭✭

    @herbantherapy what is comfrey and what is it used for other than mulch?

  • herbantherapy
    herbantherapy Posts: 453 ✭✭✭✭

    @cartern72 Comfrey is an herb also known as boneset. It heals broken bones but I’ve never used it for that. I have used it to quickly stop bleeding by wrapping a piece of leaf around the wound. I cleared up an infection on my dog after she got bit by a spider with a comfrey infused wash. You actually use very little of the plant for healing but it’s so great in an emergency it’s worth it. Beautiful large specimen plant with huge leaves and borage like flowers. You can fill a 5 gallon bucket with leaves, fill up with water, leave a week and have a high nitrogen fertilizer.

    My husband (5’11”) standing next to it for reference. We cut it down right after this in early May it is already close to 3’ tall again.


  • chimboodle04
    chimboodle04 Posts: 286 ✭✭✭

    Love seeing others gardens! Thanks for sharing!

  • John
    John Posts: 163 ✭✭✭

    Wonderful gardens and pictures. I truly enjoy seeing what others are planting and planning out their plots. Thanks you! :)

  • Shelba
    Shelba Posts: 13 ✭✭✭

    @cartern72 I consider weeding obtaining food for my meat chicken pens. It is no longer drudgery. I do a 5 gallon bucket and stop, go do something else, which also helps improve my attitude about it.

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @cartern72 and @herbantherapy nice gardens!