My Garden
(2004)
This is my second year trying my hand at gardening. I had such great success
with tomatoes, herbs and chile peppers, I decided to be more adventurous this
year.
This season, I have sowed/planted the following: strawberries, raspberries,
carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, 8 kinds of chiles, ginger, cucumbers, zucchini,
and tomatillos. The potatoes were not originally planned; I did some composting
during the winter, and most of the potato pieces 'recycled'. However, about
8 pieces were hearty enough to last the winter and grow 'eyes' therefore enabling
them to sprout out when the soil warmed up.
In the picture below, yoou will also notice a bamboo trellis at the center-back
of the garden. As I have planted cucumbers and zucchini, I decided this was
a necessity. It is constructed out of bamboo from a thatch in our apartment
complex, bound together with course half inch rope. To allow the plants to
'climb' the trellis, I utilized some tomato baskets and bent them around the
bamboo to create a sort of 'lattice-work'.
An overall shot of the garden, taken in mid-April. You'll notice
a bamboo trellis at the center-back of the garden. As I have planted cucumbers
and zucchini, I decided this was a necessity. It is constructed out of bamboo
from a thatch in our apartment complex, bound together with course half inch
rope. To allow the plants to 'climb' the trellis, I utilized some tomato baskets
and bent them around the bamboo to create a sort of 'lattice-work'.
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The herb 'cluster', currently residing in an authentic Jack
Daniels® whisky barrel half. I found a plastic liner for this, which should
prevent rotting of the barrel and essentially make it last much longer
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This is one of about a dozen chili pepper plants I have in the
garden. Varieties include: poblano, jalapeño, tabasco, cayenne, anaheim,
hot banana, thai serrano, pimiento (habañero will be added if I am lucky
enough to find one at Wal-Mart).
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One of the many potato plants that were unexpected. I had hoped
these would recycle themselves through the composting process. Guess I
was wrong...I had planted carrots (the grassy looking stuff) in a row
here, so I hope the potato plant won't overwhelm or stunt their growth too
much.
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Strawberries... I bought these on a whim, but since it's starting
warming up outside, the blossoms have been opening up daily. I hope they will
be as abundant as the raspberry crop is promising to be.
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The raspberry bush, which is a proverbial "weed'. Tangents
of this vine plant have started cropping up on almost the opposite side of the
garden. In this picture, you can see a couple of blossom buds; these are all
over the plant, so I'm hoping this will mean an abundance of fruit this
year.
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I potted two rosemary plants this year, and my mother-in-law
has another she got for me in South Carolina from her best friend. This is one
of my favorite herbs, right next to basil and thyme. It adds great flavor and
is extremely aromatic, especially when accompanied by garlic, olive oil and
lemon juice.
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