Vegetable Gardening

Vegetable Gardening isn't something I'm pro at but 3 springs ago I had my handy hubby build me (2) 4x8 garden boxes to plant veggies in.  Our yard isn't all that big, so we wanted to put the boxes in an area that isn't used all that much right along our property line.  On the pavement.  (sounds interesting doesn't it?)  I didn't want to go digging up our already small lawn for a garden and the sun hit that area all day long, so I decided the pavement was just the place for it. 

We put gravel on the bottom for drainage then top soil, lots of manure, peat moss and fertilizer which eventually got us this: 

I learned a few things after this first year.   Like Tomatoes and Sweet peppers are very sensitive to cold and over watering.  Yes, they did produce, but I ran into some near death experiences with them. (they were nearly dead before I figured out what I was doing!)

You should have seen me...I had hand drawn maps of my gardens with little x's where each carrot would grow and everything!

Last year I didn't bother with 1/2 of what I planted the first year.  At the time when we built these boxes, we thought it was plenty of room.  Most of the suggested garden boxes online that we saw were 4x4's so we thought we were really doing ourselves a favor by making (2) 4x8's.  To feed our sized family...they should have been 12x30!  (OK, maybe not...but these feel small to me now)

Broccoli brought us little white worms that had to be picked off.  Not my cup of tea.  I didn't figure this out till some of my plants were nothing but nubs.  This link will give you some great info on how to grow a successful crop.

Carrots need very fine soil to grow in so they don't grow into mutant carrots.  Guess what we got.

Cukes did grow in these boxes which really surprised me because they need lots of space to roam, but they did well here.  (for the amount we wanted anyway!) This year I will plant more than normal so I can make Lady Ashburnhams.  The cukes and onions get expensive when making these.

Tomatoes....well, they tend to gross me out.  Ha ha, call me a wimpy gardener or a tomato snob, but if my tomatoes grew mutant looking I didn't want to eat them.  I gave them all to my mother in law. She said they were some of the sweetest tomatoes she had ever eaten.  My friend Jill taught me how to prune these properly.  You have to cut the sucker shoots off.  This made all the difference for my tomatoes! Thanks Jill!  Check out this great resource for growing tomatoes.

Green beans grew great!  I'm still figuring out a system for them.  They need poles or something to grow around.  I've been using a homemade bamboo and string system.  It's a mess.  I don't like doing it that way.  I'll have to concoct something different for this year. 

My all time favorite thing I grew over the years (which I didn't plant NEAR enough the first year) were Sugar Snap peas.

I think the first year I planted maybe 12 seeds in a row.  Last year I did 2 rows of 24 and this year I have sowed 4 rows of seeds hoping for a bounty from those little babies!  (great snacking food for the kids.  They love them and they love picking them!  Bonus!!)

I am no expert gardener, but each new year I get to try my hand at growing our own food.  I love this concept.  What a financial savings too!  I wish we had more land, I would have a great big garden.  I am loving learning how to can foods and make my own jams and pickles.  Something my mom did when I was a kid and now I know why.  It is just down right yummy and satisfying.