About a month and a half ago it looked like this.
Now it looks like this.
Since we have a farm share this season, we were looking for a smaller garden (this is about 1/4 of the size it used to be) planted with only with favorites we thought we might not get enough of from just our share.
I was also looking for a lot less weeding and hoped a raised bed would be the perfect solution.
The bed has exceeded my expectations in all areas, including food production!
Have a great day!
I was also looking for a lot less weeding and hoped a raised bed would be the perfect solution.
The bed has exceeded my expectations in all areas, including food production!
We certainly were able to pack this 4x8 space full of plants and they've done amazingly well. I've never had tomatoes so tall before- they keep falling over they are so heavy, but when properly supported the plants are actually taller than I am. And chock full of fruit!
(See how the angle of this picture is upwards, this plant is almost a foot taller than I am. Which brings it to over 6ft).
Cucumbers, which have never been kind to me, are so far up to more than a dozen all nicely growing on the vines. (Which, incidentally is about 10-12 more than I normally get.)
The eggplant and peppers are huge and flowering, but have yet to set fruit... well except for a few peppers which have been stolen by some critter right off the plant! I'm actually a little afraid that the tomatoes have gotten so huge that they are blocking too much sun from these plants and that's why they haven't set fruit. But we'll see, I still have hope since they are flowering.
The eggplant and peppers are huge and flowering, but have yet to set fruit... well except for a few peppers which have been stolen by some critter right off the plant! I'm actually a little afraid that the tomatoes have gotten so huge that they are blocking too much sun from these plants and that's why they haven't set fruit. But we'll see, I still have hope since they are flowering.
And for those of you wondering about the weeding, it's been dramatically reduced. Whichever on of us happens to be watering the garden simply pulls a few while they're waiting for the plants to soak up enough water. They never get too huge or out of control. I don't even worry if I pull around the entire garden while I'm out there, I just do a different spot each time.
It's crazy that entire blocks of my time are no longer devoted to just weeding!
The only thing we planted outside of the raised bed were jack-o-lantern pumpkins (since I'm obsessed with Halloween). So far they are looking like good strong plants, getting regular male flowers, but so far no female flowers with little pumpkins on them. But I did get a late start planting them- so fingers crossed that we'll still get some.
I hope your veggie gardens (if you have them) are thriving. There's nothing like backyard fresh veggies.
It's crazy that entire blocks of my time are no longer devoted to just weeding!
The only thing we planted outside of the raised bed were jack-o-lantern pumpkins (since I'm obsessed with Halloween). So far they are looking like good strong plants, getting regular male flowers, but so far no female flowers with little pumpkins on them. But I did get a late start planting them- so fingers crossed that we'll still get some.
I hope your veggie gardens (if you have them) are thriving. There's nothing like backyard fresh veggies.
Have a great day!
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