3 ½ months ago I decided to rip out all the shrubs and bushes in my front yard and plant a vegetable garden. I got blisters and a weird rash.
2 ½ months ago I planted my seeds. I got a sore back.
1 month ago things were starting to sprout. I got excited.
Today, the garden is a real garden. I got food.
I'm writing this monthly garden update to show you how much a garden can grow in just 30 days. How you can go from cute little ornamental looking plants to big huge vegetables you can eat. IN YOUR MOUTH! IN A MONTH!
The first set of pictures was taken a month after planting (May 21st). The second set of pictures, one month after that (June 20th).
A new addition to the left side of the yard is the burlap bag, which is housing a couple of sweet potato plants. The bag is actually a white feed sack (you could use a fabric grocery sac) that I wrapped with a swath of burlap. I've been waiting my whole blog life to be able to use the word swath.
More about the plastic on top later.
And remember the Organic feed sacks I wrapped all my Christmas presents in last year? One of them is now pregnant with sweet potato plants. Not actual sweet potatoes at this point, just the plants. And in fact "pregnant" might be implying the plants are a bit bigger than they actually are. Truth is they really aren't even showing yet.
My sort of anaemic looking front walk 1 month ago.
My lush front walk today. It is swathed in plants. Does that work? I'm overdoing the swathed thing aren't I?
The right side of the house 1 month ago. Note the tiny squiggle of a squash vine planted at the base of the rightmost pillar.
The right side of the house today.
The great big mass of squash isn't only squash. Beside it is a zucchini plant. Which just happens to be growing zucchini.
Zucchini is famous for being the most prolific of vegetables. It is the John Grisham of the vegetable world. You know when zucchini have come into season because neighbours start locking their doors to prevent other neighbours from throwing bags of zucchini into the house.
Once the plant gets a bit bigger I'll be making fried, cheese stuffed zucchini blossoms.
That little guy in there is a squash. Guess what? 2 days later the plant aborted him. It's an actual thing. If the days are suddenly too hot, or too dry the plant will abort it's vegetable babies. And there's nothing you can do about it.
The side yard is where I planted a mass of potatoes which you can't see in the before picture on the left.
One month later you can definitely see them in the right hand "after" picture. They are taking over. They're so big and aggressive I can actually identify them as left or right handed.
Tomatoes ...
My first tomato. No idea what kind it is. I forgot to label this one. By the look of it I'm gonna *guess* Green Zebra.
Buttercrunch lettuce. Before and after. In one month it grew to eating size, bolted and is now done. It's now ready to be pulled out, fed to the chickens and replanted.
Carrots.
Freckles romaine, leaf lettuces and some kale peeking out of the right hand corner. All of these things can be picked continuously. Just pinch the outermost leaves off about 1" from the base of the plant and they'll all keep growing and growing throughout the season. You can do the same thing with Swiss Chard.
Onions. Red and Yellow.
Potatoes in peach basket.
I've moved my peach basket of Blue Russian potatoes to make way for a plot of sweet potatoes. I am almost positive I've planted way too many sweet potatoes in such a small space. But I couldn't help myself. How could I?
To get sweet potatoes to grow in a climate they aren't really meant to be grown in all you have to do is make sure they have the conditions they're used to. They need HOT, dry soil. And by dry I mean dry, as in not overly wet and bog-like. Not parched.
To accomplish both of these things 1 - 2 weeks prior to planting sweet potatoes lay down a layer of black plastic. I went all out and used dark thermal plastic meant especially for heating up soil. I'm sure the plain black plastic would work fine too.
This thermal plastic will heat the soil underneath of it up at least 10 degrees.
Do you remember the celery I planted just for fun in the topiary type container? Just for fun? Figuring it would die? It is now twice as big as the celery that I have growing in the garden. TWICE AS BIG. Celery has shallow roots so it doesn't need a big deep container, but I didn't know how well it would do in such a small space. It done good.
Finally a bit more of a comprehensive look at what's in the garden. Not included in the list are some things you can't see very well. Like celery and fennel and a bay leaf plant. There's arugula and garlic and a multitude of other things in different spots.
Gealous? Of my spelling? Let's try that again ... Jealous? Good. You should be. That's the point of this. To incite a vegetable riot in you.
Because you still have time. This is how things exploded in a month. And you could have your very own orgasmic vegetable explosion.
If you're in a similar climate (zone 5-6) you can go outside right now and plant carrots, lettuce, beans, and more. In the middle/end of August you can plant fall crops. At that time you can plant Kale, beets, carrots, lettuces, broccoli, and turnip. And I'm sure if I gave it some more thought ... a lot more.
Wow. There really wasn't a single funny thing in this post was there. Clearly I'm serious about my vegetables. Especially the left handed ones.
Salomé
So gealous of your yard. So gealous of your peenuts! Well done Karen!
Leona
I so needed this! I've been transitioning to edible landscaping as well not as aggressively as this as we also have Wooden Apple Bins for a raised bed in the back to save my back.
I ramble... point is, you've expanded my imagination to include many more plants in the landscaping than I had originally intended! We're already way behind for planing much new this year but next? Watch out! ;) Thanks!
Cheryl in Wisconsin
You had a great vision. Practical and beautiful.
Laura
The thing I love most about this is that unless you notice that the plants are actually producing edible things, they look like something you'd plant just to enhance the look of your yard. I love when beauty and functionality happen....and all the colors! Who would've ever thought to actually decorate your front lawn with plants that give something in return?!
Karen would.
Karen
Karen would! LOL. ~ karen
Lisa
Plant some dill for the butterflies!! and no basil? Not too late!
Karen
Lisa - Holy crap .. there's all kinds of basil. Probably just didn't label it. It's right under the tomatoes. About 5 plants in all grown from seed. ~ karen
Shirley
When I saw that cute blackboard sign, my first thought was that you were planning on setting up a farm gate operation, somewhere down the road (as it were). I love farm gates with their fresh-from-the-ground produce and flowers and honey and eggs, not to mention the good, old-fashioned honesty and trust involved. Such a nice thing all around.
Then I enlarged the picture and saw that in addition to those first three intriguing varieties, you're also offering "scalloped tomatoes." Are you pulling our collective leg here, Karen?
Karen
Shirley - LOL. NO, that's a real sign. The fella's son is 9 and I had so many tomato seedlings at the beginning of the season I told him he could sit at the end of the front yard and well them for $2 each to anyone passing by. He sold 20 seedlings or so in one weekend. Take THAT lemonade stand. And scalloped tomatoes are a real thing. They're also called pleated tomatoes. They're all wiggly and weird looking. ~ karen
Shirley
Okay, so no yummy scalloped tomatoes. Disappointing! Any chance of scalloped potatoes???
Susan Whelan
Karen, not only does the garden look terrific, the FRONT LAWN looks terrific! It's every bit as attractive as flowers and shrubs. I especially like the lettuce planted beside the walk just outside the porch so, if it's pouring rain, you don't have to go too far for supper salad.
One question - what are the two dead trees? Are they support for something? (Is that two questions?)
Karen
Susan - Yes, those are pea shrubs I featured in an earlier post. They're branches from one of the bushes we pulled out to make this garden. I've put them in the dirt to use as pea trellises. ~ karen!
anna
it looks so awesome!!
Kristen S
Karen, do you hand pollinate your squash?
I have zucchini flowers, but no fruit so far.
Debbie
Amazing veggie yard!! I planted for the first time ever... 2 tomato plants in their own containers. I will be excited if I get to have one fresh tomato!
gogothrift
so Karen,I'm dying to know what your neighbors' reaction is to your front yard veggie garden. First when you dug it all up and now, when it's unbelievably lush and bountiful. Around these parts veggies belong in the back yard, flowers in the front!!
Karen
Gothrift - Everyone is in love with my front yard vegetable garden. I'm surprised actually. I *do* live in that kind of neighbourhood though. Artists, hippies, all around forward thinkers. Every single day when I'm outside working on the garden people walking past stop to talk about it and how much they like it. I'm sure no one would stop to say Hey, I Hate your garden ... but I really don't think anyone dislikes it. ~ karen
Lynne Knowlton
I didn't plant a thing this year. Not one thing. Sooooo, if you happen to come outta your house one morning,and there are a few carrots missing....I really can't say where they went.
P.s. Did you know that if you eat too many carrots, your skin will turn orange. Yup. Been there. Done that. Got the orange poster.
Lynne xx
Sebette
Lovely, lovely and yummy. And makes a beautiful yard to boot. After my next comment you can throw that boot at me. I see bare ground and weeds etc love bare ground-mulch, mulch, mulch. Hay. Straw. Helps with retaining moisture too.
Throw the boot, I'll duck.
Karen
Sebette - I thought about throwing down some straw (and a boot at you) but for me it will look too messy. I go out a few times a day and pick a few weeds so it's always under control. Besides, some of the bare spots you see are actually patches I've seeded turnip and rutabaga! Now get out of here before I throw another boot at you. ~ karen
Janet
I have never grown sweet potatoes. What's the secret to that? Have you written a blog post about it? (I suppose lazy me could do a search...)
I love the garden explosion!
AmieM
You've done there got yourself a vege-atable jungle! You done good, girl, you done good.
Cindy Marlow
It is so amazing what you have done with your beautiful patch of yard. I have 1.5 acres and I let the weeds take over so I have green EVERYWHERE! I did do a potato basket using half of a 55 gallon food grade barrel. It is doing just fine. I noticed there is a tree on each side of your garden that is bare of leaves. Are you using them as trellises? I have a few around here that I'm thinking of stringing with lights to add to their stark, natural beauty. Can't wait for next episode of "Karen's Garden."
Karen
Cindy - Those are actually Yew branches stripped of their needles. We ripped a huge Yew bush out to do the front yard garden and I saved a few branches to use a trellises for the peas. I just cut 1" PVC pipe to about a foot long, hammered it into the earth and then stuck the branch in it to hold it steady. The peas grew up it. Now the peas are done and I have bare branches again. ~ karen
Cindy G.
Wow! It looks amazing! I'm totally jealous of your growing space. I don't have enough sun in my yard to do anything like that. A few container pots is all I could manage. And, after seeing your container plants, next year I'm definitely going to give them a go! I can't wait to see what you make with all of your harvested veggies...
Mary Kay
Love the garden Karen! Ours is growing well too except for some pesky varmit that ate the leaves off of my green bean plants! Our local nursery told me to cut the tops of my onions that it will help them to grow bigger. I have done it we will see. Do you know if it will make a difference? And one other qustion - we have planted broccoli and cauliflower but the leaves are turning a yellow color any reason as to why? THANKS!
Karen
Mary Kay - I have *never* heard of cutting the tops of the onions off. Generally speaking you remove the leaves of a plant and the tips of the plant to stop it from growing more green and encourage it to produce more/bigger fruit. But onion tops? Never heard of that. Who knows! Yellow leaves can be caused by a ridiculous number of things so it's hard to say. It could be too much water, not enough water, stress on the plant from suddenly hot or cold days, a soil imbalance ... My guess would be you've had a lot of rain lately and that's the reason. But ... that's just a guess. ~ karen!
Langela
Nice garden. Glad everything is coming along good for you. I plan on planting chard and beets today in the garden where I had onions until the wind took them out prematurely.
Karen
Eep. Half of my onions bolted. Mostly the red ones. Stupid onions. Stupid wind. And I forgot to congratulate you on your blog!!! So congratulations. Have fun with it. ~ karen
Langela
Thanks! I'm enjoying it so far.
Karen
Amazing. You have such great design instincts! Wouldn't it be awesome if your whole neighborhood ripped up their front lawns and made veggie gardens too! Good job Karen!