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2004
Vegetable Garden
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...............................................................:: Posted: 3-18-2005 ::
I started my garden in 2004 in late spring.
I put it on the south side of the house where
my grandmother once had her vegetables
growing. This area gets lots of sun and I can
keep my eye on it from the bedroom windows.
I decided to build the first raised bed next
to the walkway, but eventually I will build more
of these beds, three rows back and three
rows long. I wanted to start small since I
am new to this gardening stuff.
In this picture you can see some of the surrounding
plants. There is the Oleander bush against the
house with Lantana growing beside it next to the
back gate. In the foreground and to the left of this
image are a row of small trees that I will eventually
cut down. Around them my grandmother had planted
a lot of her Iris plants and the old Blackberry vines
were also in this spot. I planted an Esperanza bush
on the left, next to the small tree. Around that are a few Hostas, some white Gomphrena, and some
Coreopsis. None of these last three seems to have survived past fall. To the left of the bed and
behind it are a mixture of weeds; but in the spring I have a mass of Bluebonnets growing here too.
I am trying to place the raised beds around the bluebonnets without damaging their growing area
until I can get them seeded in another spot, and further back.
The bed is 3 ft. wide x 5 ft. long and the wood sides are 9 inches tall, 1 1/2 inches thick.
I filled the bottom of the bed with a few composted leaves and twigs mulched from around the
property. On top of this I placed some of the topsoil I dug up in the backyard, and on top
of that a mixture of fertilizer and a few bags of soil from the garden center. I don't think I
put enough composted manure in the mix (can't remember if I put any actually) so next
time I make the beds I will add a lot more. This was probably one of my mistakes. I also
need to test my soil to see what kind of acidity it has and determine for sure how much
sand or clay there is in it. Amazingly, I think the soil is a pretty good mix of loam; a little
on the sandy side, but it has had a buildup of organic material for the last ten years from
fallen leaves and twigs, dead weeds and grasses that were not cleaned up and were left
in place to rot. The whole yard is like a giant compost and in some places your feet will
sink due to the build up of humus. It seems to be draining well, no puddles when I water.
My mom bought the seedling plants for me at a farmers market on her trip to Amarillo
and I had them sitting around a few weeks before I planted them. I didn't plant anything
complicated this first time around, sweet Banana Peppers (on the right side),
Bell Peppers : "California Wonder" (on the left) and Tomatoes : "Better Bush"
(in the back, around the metal cage).
Below you can see how the plants progressed as they got bigger. I had to add bamboo
stakes around the tomatoes and tie them up because they got a lot taller than the very
inadequate metal cage that I had found in the old barn.
Overall, it wasn't a bad start for someone that has the reputation of killing the
occasional house plant.
