How has your garden evolved?

[mrsgreenthumbs]

When we first moved into our rental we knew that 1. the yard was a MESS. Over run with weed's, very poor soil quality (had been trucked in from a construction site), Had not been worked in at least 8 years that we know for a fact, and was essentially handed over to the bug's. So in 08 we moved in and I just could NOT help myself. I had been gardening in my Grandmother's yard my entire life, now I had one of my own. So I planted a row of odd's and end's. Some tomato plant's a few green beans, 1 corn stalk (just to play with), and a bell pepper.

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/m_5885c18170d704f6c4ef9df09a0bffc4.jpg[/img]

I also went out and bought some sun flower seeds... and planted them in the SHADYEST flower bed EVER!

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/m_b7df6e2e2974e66751da2247448deb4b.jpg[/img]

I also started said sunflower's in my horrid soil from the garden

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/m_89abd23334d6eaaed8e76d8540127a25.jpg[/img]

Needless to say those sunflowers were a PAIN to get slapped in the face with that summer... And I had decent but nothing to write home about return's from my sad little veggie garden

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/m_1a7d536e7bb3c23b4237140822e1ebcf.jpg[/img]

So the next summer (2009) I got busy with my pond and hmmm and hawed about what to do with that garden... I wasn't about to buy soil to fix the problem for a property I had no ownership to. And as the summer progressed I began to develop a plan... so in the winter of 09 my darling dear heart built me this:

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/eddiesworkingardenwinter09.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/garden09.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/gardenhoophouse09.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/thankshuggy09.jpg[/img]


I waited patiently for the money to fill the bed with soil and then sat on my hand's and waited for winter to HURRY UP AND GET OUTA MY WAY!

Finally I began planting in Febuary (late febuary) and by the last week of the month I found this:

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/gardenphotos023.jpg[/img]
I kid you not I was so excited I could have done a back flip!

Then they started getting bigger...

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/curiousstuff.jpg[/img]

And now...
(that's the potatoes in the far right corner)

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/S5030623.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/S5030637.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/S5030632.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/S5030627.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/S5030626.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/S5030614.jpg[/img]

This guy... IDK why they are here but they are EVERY WHERE! I have fought these ugly things for 2 years now... he went squish right after I snapped this photo

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/S5030611.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/m_642cbcbd63da41ed9b310fd5635ca0af.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/m_8900f9c9490c413995c13ea82bf1aea2.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/m_bad42a41bdd441d3aeab25ebb938378a.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/queenofdabbws/Garden/S5030603.jpg[/img]

Sooo... how did your garden evolve? How is it doing now? What's got you excited in your garden? What new project's are you working on? We all know were each obsessed with our own private pieces of heaven right now (we can't help it that's why they call it spring fever!) so let's dish!

[rainbowgardener]

Love the pictures! Beautiful, you've done a great job.

The insect is a Jerusalem cricket, otherwise known as a potato bug. Here's from the wiki Jerusalem cricket article:

Despite their name, Jerusalem crickets are neither true crickets, true bugs, nor native to Jerusalem, and they do not prefer potatoes for food. Active only at night, the insects use their strong mandibles to feed primarily on dead organic material but can also eat other insects.[1] Their highly adapted feet are used for burrowing beneath moist soil to feed on decaying root plants and tubers.

So it sounds like they are mostly a good guy in the garden.

I love the look of the big rocks in your raised bed, but do they serve a function?

I'll have to do another post later re my yard when I can scan in my one and only before picture... Suffice it to say when I started I literally had no backyard, I had to create the whole thing. (more explanation later)

[GardenJester]

great pictures, just one thing... It looks like your house is blocking the sun to your garden... I guess the next thing you have to do to improve you garden would be to... move the house.

[mrsgreenthumbs]

Can't wait rainbow! And why YES the rocks DO serve a good purpose! Thanks for asking! I started that bed with long since plans to try my hand at the 3 sister's planting method (corn, green beans on corn, squash below) when my green beans and corn started coming up something was nibbling them down to stumps!

So I tried squishing them but the slugs are really a problem in my garden and they are EVERY WHERE so I resorted to snail bait and had a moment of genius... Where do slugs hide? Under rocks and stepping stones and in dark damp places right? BINGO! I now have strategically placed "traps" for my slow squishy little unwanted guests!
Every pre dawn morning during the week I am up at 4 am (commuting SUCKS!) so before leaving the house at 5:30 I go out with my handy flash light and check under my rocks. What the poison has not killed... I do!

[mrsgreenthumbs]

Garden jester - yes... sadly (if you can kinda picture it) we have a communal yard and our "corner" is very small... so I had to make due. As you can see from the picture peeking into the hoop house the closest row of spinach is dwarfed by the one behind it because the closer row's get a lot of shade. I tried to strategically plant but ... what can ya do right? (besides go berserk until the DH moves that darnd CAMARO OUT OF MY STINKIN YARD! ) JK (kinda) it wouldn't make any difference... were stuck with a south facing house and a small yard. I have my beedy little eye's on the GREAT BIG front lawn though....

My DH say's I can't.... He should know by now... it just KILLS me to waste all that water on grass, what good does it do for us? Or our water conservation? UGH! Id rather see raised bed's with all SORTS of squash and sun loving stuff.... ohh... and rows of corn... to block out the neighbors eye soar.... a gal can dream. But my land lord would FLIP!

[GardenJester]

wow! those rocks are slug traps? You must have some serious upper body strength, I just place couple of overturned pots in the gardens, lot easier to lift. Then again, I suppose that's a way to get a good workout.

[mrsgreenthumbs]

LOL! The rocks are about.... two fist's size (for the big one) not much lifting problem for me and they look purdy for now.

[mrsgreenthumbs]

oh AND I had to find SOMETHING to do with all the left over rocks I had from my waterfall after I broke it all down. They are EVERY WHERE in all my flower bed's! I go round and lift them and kill anything that is under there!

[tn_veggie_gardner]

LOL...I started back seriously 4-5 years ago, every year, having my tiny apartment porches filled to the brim and more with veggie plants! =) Now, as of last Summer, I still mostly do container gardening, but I am renting a townhome with an 1/8th acre (I think...maybe 1/16th) lot, so I have a ton of stuff growing! After giving away what I don't want to grow (can't fit), I'll be growing 11 varieties of tomatoes (2-3 plants a piece), 8 varieties of peppers (2-3 plants a piece), a handfull of herbs, 9 or so different types of fruits (3 dwarf citrus, 3 berries & a few others), some succulents, a ton of flowers, etc., etc.! One of these days soon, I'll make a list of what I'll have in my garden this year & it will even amaze me, I'm sure! lol

- Steve

[DoubleDogFarm]

mrsgreenthumb,

Your doing a wonderful job, keep it going. Maybe you should buy your landlord the book, Food Not Lawns by Heather Flores.

I purchased my land in 1989. Was a weekend warrior and basically camped on the property. I lived about 100 miles away and a 1 hour ferry ride from the property. During the summer I came up about 3 out of the 4 weeks each month. Started with a well, five apple trees and a campsite.

Skipping ahead, moved hear in the Fall 2001. From 2001 until present, I now have about 60 fruit tress, as many fruiting bushes and rows of black berries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, etc.

Vegetable garden is now 54 x 72. 25 raised beds about 3ft wide and 20ft long.

Greenhouse, duckhouse, man made ponds and stream.


[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/DSC01014-1.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/DSC01196-1.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/DSC00958.jpg[/img]

Vegetable garden, currently not much to show
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/DSC01597-1.jpg[/img]

This link is a satellite view

https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=63+ellison+lane+friday+harbor+wa+98250&sll=51.450116,-0.968943&sspn=0.005656,0.013711&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=63+Ellison+Ln,+Friday+Harbor,+San+Juan,+Washington+98250&ll=48.52435,-123.098668&spn=0.000398,0.001368&t=h&z=20

[shaefins]

Ohhhh, DDF...that is *awesome*! Would just love to have a place like that! Did you quit your job and move out there or something?

[SarahSarah]

DoubleDog your land is AMAZING. I seriously drooled when I saw your google satellite image.

MrsGreen - I also rent, but my landlord is super easy going. I've been able to plant whatever I want along the perimeter and right now I'm in the process of tearing up the front yard. We had this awful onion grass growing and I want to plant something drought tolerant and somewhat local. The problem is that the front yard gets NO light.

[DoubleDogFarm]

shaefins,

You could call it a life change. Grew up in my parents business for 14 years stayed 5 more with the new owner. He got to be very difficult to deal with. So I moved to my property and started a commune, and here are my followers, or maybe a shepherd and here is my flock.

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/DSC02035.jpg[/img]

Still working. Landscaping, Farmers Market and Lawn-Garden equipment repair.

[GardenJester]

wow! nice little hobby farm/orchard you got there doubledog. It's like "Farmville" in RL. Just curious, are you able to break even or make a profit from it?

[DoubleDogFarm]

gardenjester,

You got the hobby right, but I'm always thinking of ways to earn a little more. Never really crunched any numbers. My bread and butter is Lawn and garden equipment repair. Sell duck eggs for $6.00 or $7.00 dollars a dozen. They should probably be more like $20.00 if I looked at the feed cost.

I feel like I'm highjack beautiful mrsgreenthumbs post

[tedln]

Mrsgreenthumbs,

I love your garden and I admire your husband. I thought I was being original when I built my pvc pipe hoop, but it looks like he had the idea ahead of me. Good job.

I do have a question. What is that tall, silver looking cabinet in the background of one of the hoop photos. It looks like some kind of utility box but I've never seen one with upper and lower vent grills.

Eric,

Not much I can say man. You are a lucky dude. Looks great and well planned. Are the ducks just your buddies are do you occasionally invite one to dinner with you as the guest of honor? Do they really yell AFLAC when they are stressed?

Ted

[DoubleDogFarm]

Ted,

Thank You

It's kind of like Aflac, but more like ah f--k when they see the hatchet.

Currently I have 25 egg laying ducks and 3 muscovies, meat birds. Also rabbits

[mrsgreenthumbs]

Ohhh DD.... This post is to share with every one, from every one and thank you so very much for doing just that! What an amazing inspiring story! What you have done... it's takes moxy. Your property looks amazing and your geese .... well... I'm actually terrified of them ... but still they look healthy! Just curious (haven't clicked the link to the satellite view yet) where is your commune located? and when will you be expecting me

[mrsgreenthumbs]

Aww thanks tedln. And around my house I'm the idea "man". lol Here's how it goes:

Me - "So...... I was thinking...."

Him - "Oh no.... what is it this time?"

lol

We actually built the white picket fence gate thing, the boxes, (my mo fo of a land lord "built" the laundry lines... guess digging a foot deep hole and sticking a 2x4 in it is a laundry line... ) and next I'll be turning the area behind the 3 sister's planting box into a herb area and potting work station. Oh... and as far as the "boxes"... -grr- they were installed in the back yard to give shed storage (we each have 2 for all 3 homes on the property and 2 additional for the land lord to store tools he NEVER USES) long before we moved in. Personally I don't understand why he insisted on buying 2 small one's rather than 1 large one... they drive me CRAZY. Their too small to be useful for anything other than a catch all and too large to allow me to have any real space to garden in.... HATE THEM.

[applestar]

Here's how it goes:

Me - "So...... I was thinking...."

Him - "Oh no.... what is it this time?"

Ha! That sounds remarkably similar to the conversation I had with my DH recently:

Him - "We can't do it because blah, blah."
Me - "Well, why don't you (1) or (2)?"
Him - "No, that won't work."
Me - "Are you sure, because blah, blah."
Him - "No."
Me - "OK."
"blah, blah, blah..."
Me - "I know you said it won't work but I was thinking blah and blah."
Him - "No."
Me - "Well, I'm sure you'll think of something."

... (1 or 2 hrs later) ...

Him - "So we decided to use your idea."

lol

Exactly.

[mrsgreenthumbs]

Ohhh apple... we must be soul sisters... our's goes a bit like this:

Me - "You know...if you do it yadda yadda way it would be easier"

him - "You got two choices.. you can let me do it my way or do it yourself but you can't TELL me how to do it..."

Me - "suit yourself..."

then I go inside to do my own thing and let him struggle and come back outside and he's doing it the way I suggested

Me - (looking at him with a smug smile) "...so...how's it going?"

Him - "Ok so you were right.... Whatever"

Me -....

Him - "I know you want to so just do it all ready"

by this time were both ready to laugh our heads off

Me - while dancing in a little circle "Iiiii...... TOLD YOU SO I TOLD YOU SO I TOLD YOU TOLD YOU TOLD YOU SO! "

Were the best of friends but MAN it's great to be right all the time

[DoubleDogFarm]

mrsgreenthumbs,


Who's afraid of the big bad goose
Big bad goose, big bad goose?
Who's afraid of the big bad goose?
Tra la la la la

Actually they are ducks and three Muscovies. The drake is as big as a goose.

Follow the coast line about as far north in the states you can go. San Juan Island.

[mrsgreenthumbs]

I'm afraid of the big bad goose! lol Every time I hear those sucker's honking at me I get flash backs of denim mini skirt's (the one's my mother made her tom boy of a daughter wear ) and swinging the giant bag of day old bread to defend myself!

Now I know not to run....


But I still want to