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.
Heather
I love you Karen. You Rock. Way to inspire everybody!
Bonnie
I am envious of your garden--we have too much shade to plant very much, but we are glad for the shade since we live in the south. I cooked some Swiss Chard yesterday (that a neighbor had grown) and it was delicious. I fried a few strips of bacon, then threw in some sweet onion and garlic and a little olive oil for a few minutes, then put the chopped chard leaves, a little white wine, a splash of vinegar, salt and pepper and a dash of hot sauce. Even my veggie-suspicious husband went back for seconds.
Alex
Looks gorgeous! It's painful when you have to pick the salads and there's this empty spot screaming for a replacement.
Nancy Blue Moon
Wow Karen..Are you sure you never planted a veggie garden before??? You need to seriously give yourself a BIG pat on the back..My two raised beds are a little behind due to my surgery but they seem to be growing nicely thanks to my fella helping out when I couldn't do much but supervise while he planted..Isn't it great when you can walk outside and pick fresh food from your garden..Way better than anything in the grocery store..I am curious about one thing..That is how does the wind affect onions???
Karen
Nancy - Wind? Onions? I'm confused. It's not exactly my first vegetable garden, but thanks! It *is* my first at this house and my first with this large a variety of vegetables all at once! It's great. I LOVE it. For now anyway. I'm sure by August I'll be ready to pack everything up and buy all my food at the variety store. ~ karen
Nancy Blue Moon
Eep. Half of my onions bolted. Mostly the red ones. Stupid onions. Stupid wind. Quote from Karen!!!
Jayme
Nancy, Next time you plant onions, no matter whether red, white or yellow, break the green stalks off, (no need to cut, just bend them over) to keep them from bolting. The energy that the stalks take to grow take away from the onion bulb. Just keep bending them over as the stalks grow and the onions won't flower and the bulbs will grow big.
lemur_lass
I am very envious (in a good way) of your garden. We did many of the same things at the same time, yet my cucurbits are not nearly as large as yours. I think I am not watering enough.
I was hoping you might share how you actually removed your Yews. I have several I need to remove and would appreciate any insight you gained. They are in every yard here in Cleveland and I HATE them.
Karen
Well to be honest with you, I had the fella remove the Yew, LOL. I trimmed off the majority of the branches then he came in with a saw and chopped it into pieces. After that he dug the stump out (which I think was easier than we thought it would be) and I went in after him and pulled the remaining roots up. That's it! Oh! And regarding the squash and zucchini ... I think they're just in a spot they really like. My neighbour complained that hers were only about a quarter of the size of mine (and she got 2 of her plants from me, so they're the exact same plants) ~ karen
gloria
Lovely, lovely, lovely. Kudos, Karen. Great job.
I too was inspired to rip out part of my yard this year and make room for veggies. I decided the froo froo English cottage garden that the previous owner put in to lure unsuspecting (or suspecting, in my case, I'm a born skeptic) buyers. I knew it was all curb appeal, and it did work. I bought the house after all. It was pretty but not at all practical. And she had not planned well. Many of the perennials were in the wrong places.
So...RIP. I put in some little raised beds for lettuces, peppers, and cinnamon basil. And along the outside of the fence, I put in a raised bed of birdhouse gourds. A teepee for the pole beans, a twig fence for the nasturtiums and zinnias (have to have flowers in amongst the veg.) A big 'ol beefsteak tomato plant. And galvanized tubs for zukes, sage, and cherry tomatoes.
All this done the week before I had my left knee replaced with a shiny, new bionic one. (I can only hope it was shiny and new prior to being crammed in after taking out the yucky old one.)
Now I sit in a lawn chair and water it, the garden not the knee, and watch it grow, again, the garden not the knee. Photos? Of garden? Not the knee.
~gloria
Wendy @HerBallistic Garden
Cheese stuffed zucchini blossoms?? What?? My mouth is watering! Beautiful, beautiful work! And, don't tell me it's not, cuz I know!! :)
Jan
How many hours of sunlight does your garden receive? I think we have a suitable area but I am not sure.
Karen
Jan - Vegetables need a minimum of 6-8 hours of sunlight. 8 hours is best. More hours is better. :) ~ karen
Eleanor
Great Job. Well done.
Leigh
Love your blog! Here's a link to a zucchini "apple pie" recipe that fools even the zucchini haters!! Something I had never thought about before our neighbors abundant harvest.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/zucchini-apple-pie/
Cheryl from Quebec
Hi Karen,
This is my first time ever writing to a blogger. I LOVE your site. I find myself laughing out loud at my computer, even coming to tears one day (your hot pepper in the eye fiasco). I have two friends who are trying their hand at growing sweet potatoes for the first time. I just shared your tip using the plastic and they both wondered how you water them if they are covered. Can you enlighten us please.
Thank you.
Karen
Hi Cheryl from Quebec - I'm honoured. See how I spelled honoured? That's 'cause I'm Canadian too. So. The sweet potatoes. You cut slits into the plastic to insert your sweet potato slips and enough water gets in there to water them. They also get remnant water from the surrounding soil. Also, the plastic mulch keeps the moisture in. So even WITH the plastic on top of the soil the sweet potato soil is always wetter than the rest of the garden. ~ karen!
Danee
You will need a shotgun to keep neighbors from pinching your crops! Very nice indeed, I would pinch from your garden if I was there!
Sophie
Please, please tell me more about the tomato trellis...it deserves its own post!
marilyn
AMAZING!!
Karen
Thanks Miss. Marilyn! ~ karen
Natalie
Wow! You are awesome and inspirational! This is fantastic and you should be very proud. :) Thanks for sharing and passing on motivation!
Shauna
Everything looks so great. I just love the front yard vegetables - just as beautiful as non-eating plants.
We have officially been inspired by you and finally planted our garden about 2 weeks ago. Tomatoes, corn, squash, carrots, sweet peppers, spinach, cucumbers, watermelon, eggplant, basil, etc.
So far, everything is coming up very pretty. We've cordoned it all off and the chickens aren't getting in, so far so good.
Trish
So I love what you've done with the place, looks amazing. Always an inspiration (my husband kind of sorta hates you for that;). Could you tell me more about what you've got going on with your potatoes? I've got a potato container that is now filled to the top with soil and the plant is well over a foot past the top of the container. I love the idea of wrapping the container with chicken wire and adding more soil. Is that the concept that you are going for here with the hay? To allow the potatoes to continue to grow and produce even after its out grown your container? If so, what do you think about shredded newspaper in place of hay?
Karen
Trish - My potatoes are an experiment. I'm trying a variety of ways to grow them including the chicken wire and additional straw you mentioned. I'm curious as to whether I will get more potatoes than the ones where I only have the regular amount of soil/straw in the baskets. I've done the straw thing in both baskets and on the ground. Shredded newspaper won't work I don't think because it will absorb to much water and just turn to mush. You can buy a bale of straw at a feed store for around $4. Also, a lot of times if you don't need a whole bale, they'll let you just take all the loose stuff on the ground around their straw pile. But, be warned. One basket filled with straw like you see on my page takes a lot more straw than you would think! You have to pack it in quite hard to make sure the potatoes have something to grow in and to ensure no light gets through to turn the potatoes green. ~ karen!
Trish
Thanks, you're awesome. Figured newspaper wouldn't work, just needed it confirmed. I'll definitely look into the hay, just have to locate a feed store...
Karen
Trish - Not hay. Straw. You have to make sure you get straw. Hay is what horses eat, straw is what they bed in. ~ karen!
Trish
I know, I know, I know...I'm a big fan of interchanging words. I find it keeps people on their toes ;) (thats what I'm going with anyways)i.e. wheel instead of tire, road instead of driveway. Just some of the many examples of my improper use of words. Thank you for the correction.
Karen
Hah! I do the same thing. ~ karen
Elen Grey
It is a work of art. As beautiful as any perennial bed, but you can EAT it. Wahoo!
Samantha
Im so jealous! I'm having such a hard time with my garden this year.
olemike
Nice! Great pictures.