The 2010 ‘Tiny Garden’ Is . . . Not So Tiny!

July 27th, 2010 - filed under: The Farm » Flora

such a geek!

It’s been a big year here on the Micro-Farm, with an addition to the family leaving little time for tending the land. Waits is approaching 5 months now, and my poor yard . . . my poor yard is approaching catastrophe! But that’s okay. I have a plan, a long-term vision to work off of through summer and fall. If all goes well I’ll be set up to take off running next spring!

And for now, the babe is a bit bigger and I’m able to get outside a bit more – accompanied by my munchkin of course!

baby-wearing-yard-working : it’s a *great* workout

My wee little garden gnome!

Despite my [reluctant] neglect, my garden – beautiful beast that it is – is thriving! You may remember what it looked like freshly planted, back in May. It’s come a long way! Here’s the right-side bed :

The lower left quadrant used to house the pac choi, but I tore that out when it bolted, and I’ve replaced it with six nice tomato starts from the Farmer’s Market.

Tomato flowers. BRING ON the home-grown ‘matoes! Pleeeeeease!!!

My snow peas, which I feared I’d gotten into the ground too late, have made it:

Ain’t they sweet? But the real stars are my gourds. They’re totally out of control!

Standing between the two beds.

Bursting from their box, invading everything around them!

Ginormous, gorgeous pumpkin flower (there are about a million of these!)

Awesome (alien-esque?) acorn squash bud. I think it looks extra-terrestrial, but then again we’ve been watching a lot of old X-Files . . .

Behind all that, the sunflowers have just shot up (we *finally* got some heat around here) and are growing like crazy now. Yay! I planted the same monster variety as last year.

And last but not least, though I can’t eat them this year because Waits reacts, I still think the strawberries are soooo adorable.

So tell me tell me, how are your gardens growing? Link to pics if you’ve got ‘em, we all want to see!

BONZAI!

http://veganyummybypeggy.blogspot.com/ peggy

your garden looks so wonderful! i am very jealous. ive only been able to grow basil and hot peppers this year. my garden is my deck, and i kill everything. yours looks great. i love that you garden with the baby all strapped on :)
cool blog
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jebusthecat/ jen

Nice garden! Have you noticed an explosion in the past week or so with the hot weather? I’m up in Vancouver and I swear every day my squashes are noticeably bigger! My tomatoes are out of control and I’ve even got about 7 stalks of corn!!

Are you wearing Waits in a BabyHawk? I loved mine until Jackson got to be about 3 months and then it made my shoulders soooo sore. I swear by the Ergo now. I’d even sell my stroller if it wasn’t so good at bringing home farmers market goodies! Happy gardening!
http://iwantherlife.wordpress.com Claudia

It’s even more fun when you can wear the babes on your back: by then he’ll be able to hold onto flowers and grass and such. I am so envious of your garden, it looks SO lovely!
http://www.jaymadeit.blogspot.com Jay

Cute garden, cuter baby.

Here’s mine (garden, not baby):

http://jaymadeit.blogspot.com/2010/07/garden-grows.html
Erin

Your garden gnome is wonderful. I have a few pictures up (amongst some other interesting selections, don’t mind those) – especially focusing the out of control zucchini!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/erinfrith/4766070576/
Erin

This link is better, durr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/erinfrith/sets/72157624598796260/
http://shillig4family.blogspot.com Caroline

my garden is thriving as well w/very little work.
I just have a strip in a community garden at my condo complex.
How big is your lot that you use a mower like that? I love the idea or that!
http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

@ peggy – Haha, basil and peppers are the 2 things that I can *never* grow! =D

@ jen – Total explosion recently. Finally! And yup, it’s a Babyhawk and I heart it sooo much. But I have noticed I have to wear it a bit differently as he grows. I was great for when he was tiny and I think it’ll be awesome when he’s a bit bigger, but he’s at this awkward in-between where his legs don’t quite sit right. I, too, have major Ergo lust.

@ Cluadia – Aw, thank you! And yeah, the back-wearing will make things SO much easier. But right now I’m still freaked out by the idea of not *seeing* him!

@ Jay – Oh, lovely garden! You’ve got so much space, that’s so awesome! And edamame = soybeans, yes? How is that going??

@ Erin – Lucky, those tomatoes are gonna be ready soooon! And wow, that zucchini was impressive! =D

@ Caroline – Our lot is like the townhouse – long and skinny. =) So it’s as deep as a normal yard, but only about 1/2-1/3 as wide as a standard lot. Probably closer to 1/3. And only half of it is grass. So yeah, It’s a small patch, maybe 20 ft x 20 ft, where the chickens scratch and the dogs play. The push mower is perfect (and so green!) for keeping it tidy.
http://www.greeninoakpark.com Amy

It’s from about 3 weeks ago, but here are some pictures from mine. http://www.greeninoakpark.com/2010/07/backyard-garden-update.html

Thanks for the cute Waits picture. :) I’m envious of your strawberries, as mine didn’t do much this year. Maybe next year.
http://lauraburris.tumblr.com Laura Burris

Our garden is so out of control, need to take a picture. The entire household; father, mother, fiance, and myself, are in summer classes. No one has been tending it, I really need to get out there. I want to raise the beds, what did you use under the soil to keep other plants out?
http://smartdame.blogspot.com/ Myssi

I have a lil plot in my back yard…
here’s the link.
Ours looks a bit like yours, but yours is neater

http://smartdame.blogspot.com/

I hope some of my heirloom tomatoes start growing
xo v8grrl
http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

@ Amy – Looks great! I looove your peppers, and those berries are going to be so good!

@ Laura Burris – You don’t need to use anything to keep plants from coming up from underneath – if plants get in it’s from seeds blowing/falling in. You’ll just have to weed. But, if you have pest issues, like gophers, you may want to put chicken wire down under the beds. I lost sooo many plants to gophers in my last place. My garden was just a series of holes in the ground!

@ Myssi – Love it! The glass bottle edging is such a great idea!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mistypisty/ Misty

I just moved into a house with a yard last week. Maybe next year I can try my attempt and a smallish garden. Right now I have 2 tomato plants in pots and my mom is going to give me a pot with some zucchini. Her garden is looking pretty awesome though:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mistypisty/4839170161/in/photostream/

Lots of lettuce (wasabi flavored greens!?), radishes, corn, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini. I think she even planted artichokes, but I’m not sure. Her thumb is greener than mine. I’m still pretty jazzed about not killing my thyme! haha
http://www.alisasgarden.blogspot.com Alisa

http://www.alisasgarden.blogspot.com!
Love your garden! It’s very cute!
Saundra

Garden finally doing something it’s been so hot and humid my plants have been basically cooking. But the hot banana peppers have gone crazy and my tomatoes are finally getting blooms and a couple maters :) yours looks great though and I love ur mower thing I’ve been buggin hubby for one of those but he says our yard is too big for it :/ oh btw I think my sis in law lives relatively close to u! She says oregon is almost like living in another country from here in terms of organicness I struggle to find it and she says organic is usually cheaper than reg. Food out there anyways I thought that was great!!
http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

@ Misty – Your mom’s garden is great, I love those beautiful big raised beds!

@ Alissa – Omg your fruit stand is adorable! Love it!

@ Saundra – Yeah, Oregon is sort of a Mecca of healthy eating/living. We are very lucky here! The push mower is sooo great. It’s a good work-out too, you should totally get one!

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