organic gardening |

Epic Fail 2012. Yes, that’s right. Remember last year when we had enough tomatoes to feed a city? Well this year, not so much. We used a different soil and that’s the only thing we can think of that we’ve done differently.

Of all the things we planted way back in May we’ve grown one banana pepper and one tomato.

And our lettuce did thrive. But that’s all! We have one tomato plant that we planed directly in the ground. That is growing, but only in the last few weeks have any tomatoes popped up and they refuse to turn red.

So, 2012 was not the year for our garden I guess. None of our herbs even grew! Our squash plant started growing really well and then literally like 2 days later was completely dead.

Hope you’re all having better luck with your gardens. There’s always next year!

Our garden is starting to bloom now! We scaled back our garden this year, from last year’s awesome one. Mostly for one simple reason: we don’t have a spigot outside the house. So trekking water through the house, down the stairs and to the garden got to be a bit much with so many things growing and so much water needed. This year we focused more on the things that we really like and eat regularly.

We planted: mixed greens, cucumbers, yellow squash, tomatoes, cantaloupe, basil, cilantro and parsley.

We have this massive stump in the yard that serves no purpose. We toyed with turning it into a table but it’s not positioned correctly for that. Our outdoor table, that we got for free on Craigslist last summer, was pretty beat up and the base of it would no longer stay together. So we painted the tabletop, tossed the base and secured it on top of the stump. It was the perfect spot to raise the planters up a little and not have them take up precious yard space. It’s a jumble of random planters and looks a little funky, but hey, it’s a conversation piece!

I also planted one flower pot of pansy’s and tossed a few under some bushes at the front of the house (they’re behind the wagon). I didn’t actually think those ones would survive but they’re thriving!

The last thing I planted were these super colorful flowers (I have no clue what they’re called).

My yard sale find wagon was the perfect container for them. I bought the wagon specifically for planting flowers and I think they look perfect. These are placed right at the bottom of the staircase.

So for the most part our outdoor space has been colorful and thriving lately and we love it! Now if we could just find another free table on Craigslist we’d be set! Have you guys been planting anything lately? Have vegetable gardens? Flowers?