Our Little Garden 2013

I am very proud of our garden. Mostly due to it being a lot of work and also because it bloomed!  Every seed we planted produced fruit...well vegetables. The only thing that hasn't yet come to see us yet is the lavender, that may never come out of the ground.  The foxgloves barely made it either.  The temperature and placing in the yard meant the flowers were not given the best surviving chance.  We did get some volunteers and some surprise fruit from the neighbors tree.  

We spent $20 on this garden...the barrels were already full of decent soil that had been left for a few years to rest, we make shifted most of our frames, buying 3 for tomatoes (they really grow high. Barrels aren't the best fit for tomatoes as they like more room and time between watering, but we've had a decent crop.  Our green beans have been the biggest producers and I love to add them to Asian dishes.  The cherry tomatoes are still producing and in the last week the Bell Peppers have started to come out.  Chilli's, well you can count them!  Awesome fun to see them dangling.  The cucumbers were planted alongside my sunflowers, they sweeten the cucumber and provide an organic frame for them to climb.  all the plants are still producing, but the high heat seems to have shrunk the green beans, they have such a beautiful vibrant green foliage that shades the beans as they grow.  they look so pretty on a small tipi style frame.  

If we were to garden again we might look into reconstructing the original veg boxes that contain our barrels.  Add a chicken or two, plant an orange tree or even add some large cactus to help protect the plants.  Our yard is fenced and closed in so we've not had any trouble with stolen produce, many friends have lost their gardens to deer.  A cheaper alternative would be to refresh the soil, use the 3 or 4 barrels we didn't use this year and try growing herbs.  

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1)Cucumber, 2)Green Beans, 3)Cayenne Chilli Peppers, 4)Yellow Tomatoes, 5)Green Capsicum/Bell Peppers, 6)Figs.