An Overview of Our Urban Garden Spaces in 2012
Do you remember all the posts last year on our yard? I also had a bunch of goals in mind for this year; some of them I have shared with you all, and some I’m still formulating since we’re at the beginning of the gardening season. I created a digital image last year for what our yard would look like: Last fall, I sat in on forty hours of master gardener classes on all sorts of topics. What else was I going to do in the breaks between intellectual tidbits besides daydream up a new...
Read MorePart II: 15 things I’m Doing This Next Season in My Raised Bed
Not sure what’s going on? See Part I: Raised Bed Gardening/Square Foot Gardening at Not A Lot of Plot. Yesterday I talked about what was covered in the class given by Deb Walser on raised bed and square foot gardening. Today I’m going to talk about what I specifically learned and how I’m going to apply that for next year. You might want to grab a cup of coffee. This is a long one with lots of resources. First, an introduction to my garden: My Raised Beds – Cinder Block I...
Read MoreOur Yard | Update on the entire backyard.
Remember when I wrote we finished a lot of things this weekend including mulching the backyard? I wasn’t kiddin’. The Gate and Fruit Bushes You may remember that this area used to look like the following after we’d built the fence, pergola, and gate. Here’s the new view from the gate that leads into the backyard: Here’s the new view looking towards the gate: This area was always overrun by weeds and incredibly hard to keep under control. I decided that instead,...
Read MoreCase of the Overgrown Tomato
Back in June I carefully planted my garden. Every year my tomatoes go nuts, I forget to remove the suckers, and I don’t prune at all. This year I had a grand plan and I swore I was going to at least get to those suckers! Of course, that didn’t happen. We went on a nine to ten day vacation, it got hot and moist and then dry. Those tomato plants went nuts and I wasn’t even there to slow down the damage. I came back to something similar to this and I was so overwhelmed that I...
Read MoreOur Yard | Mint & Fruit Trees
A long time ago I asked my husband if it would be possible to cut this deck in half since I wouldn’t be using it. I always intended to install a large patio in the backyard with built-in outdoor kitchen and seating. At first he looked at me like I was nuts, but over the years I wore him down. This is good, because over the years the deck also wore down and the unsupported corner sagged more… and more… and more. You can barely tell in this picture, taken nearly five years ago,...
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