I put my first two blog posts about our 16'x8' deck garden up. We're fighting with the squirrels at the moment, but you can see how everything's doing, all the same. Here's our first part - which shows a digital rendering of the entire deck as well as how the garden was taking off. http://mamahousemouse-rambles.blogspot.com/2015/06/2015-garden-part-1.html And here's today's post - mostly about my fight against the squirrels, but with some fun photos showing how well the plants have grown in three weeks time. http://mamahousemouse-rambles.blogspot.com/2015/07/2015-garden-part-2.html
There is an enormous storm coming our way this evening, so quick before it hits - just in case my garden is destroyed, I wanted to share our enormous plants as of today. Our tomatoes are easily 7' high as of right now. I see at least 60 tomatoes, and that many blossoms as well. The parsnips that are underplanted - look like a pretty carpet of green fluffiness. We'll see how they turn out in a few months still. The trellis is finally working! The zucchini are nearly at the top, and the cucumbers and melons JUST started reaching above the deck-rail this morning. I have counted four squash-blossoms already, and saw two cucumber blossoms as well. The peppers are inter-planted with our marigolds, and I counted 27 peppers longer than my finger this morning. And our herbs, as always, are doing amazingly well. The squirrels won with the strawberries. It looks as if I never even planted anything in the bed - they've dragged off the plants and left nothing but bare soil! Gah!
What you have done in a small (but very nice) outside area is just wonderful! Seriously...that is so impressive it has even given me some ideas for a little but good and sunny area that hasn't been available to me until this summer (after an old and big tree fell down this spring). Kudos!
op-damn girl you are dedicated....very impressed with the variety......i'm going all tomatoe and pumpkin this year with 1 cucumber plant and 1 broccoli about the strawberries.....you can use chicken wire to form a box over them....strawberries don't grow tall so it wont be ugly.someone else I know used a big dog cage to grow some veggies that her squirrels were eating...you can paint the cage or chicken wire a nice color so its not awful looking http://www.arnoldacres.co.nz/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/IMG_2305StrawberryCage.jpg
Thank you all so much! My entire family has worked to make this garden into the absolute most that it can be. Our goal each year is to produce so much that we are forced to share. This year... we just might achieve that! I know it's only been four days, but my zucchini vines literally grew 18" overnight last night, and are now being trained across the trellis "roof". I just had to share more photos! http://mamahousemouse-rambles.blogspot.com/2015/07/2015-garden-part-3-photo-heavy.html
Inspiring. I'm moving somewhere soon where I can't plant a garden in the ground but I'm thinking of getting a few pots.
Didn't expect much from these peppers on our rather windy and not too sunny terrace. Woot, these two will be part of dinner tomorrow.
I just posted another update. Our garden is still booming, and we're starting to harvest! http://mamahousemouse-rambles.blogspot.com/2015/08/2015-garden-part-4.html We even harvested a full half-pound of peppermint! And I need to cut it back again! I'm also starting to evaluate towards next year's garden as well, for those who like to know what worked & what didn't.
Lovely garden, Sugar. The chicken wire hint someone gave you works wonderfully well, too. I have to put the wire over the top of all our containers to keep the barn cats and chickens out of the plantings. I'm sure it'd work great for keeping squirrels from dragging off your strawberry plants. They're still going to eat your berries thru the wire, But at least you'll have the plants. We put all our strawberries in hanging baskets and built a mini-pergola for them right off the front porch. Squirrels don't get that close to our house usually.