My Pathetic Garden #2: Decent Progress

Well, I wouldn’t say my green attempts at vegetable gardening is a spectacular success, however, I can say that things are growing and getting flowers. Progress at least! I am doing a no till, polyculture/permaculture approach. This also means I am not weeding except for grass. I am doing my best to try and mimic nature to build the soil, reduce water needs, and eliminate the need to use fertilisers. I did decide to fertilize this year because some of the plants weren’t growing even though I double dug, and used compost. Once I did that, leaves started getting bigger. I gave the tomatoes and peppers some Epsom salts. I plan on boosting them with eggshells dissolved in vinegar too.

The hosta area is doing better. Rhubarb are getting new leaves, onions seem happy, plus I got a few peppers. The cilantro and dill flowered right away in this heat. There is one surviving cucumber plant that escaped critters and is holding on. I would like to get the mulch deeper, and there is a layer of a few leaves under that.

The strawberry blooms keep getting eaten, but they are doing better. The two big ones haves sent out a ton of runners. I don’t know what the tall weed is, but the leaf eating pests bugs like it a lot.

The cabbages live! I don’t know if they will ever form a head, but they aren’t dead, so that is something!

Close up next to the cabbages and cinder blocks is some very happy wood sorrel. I know it is considered a weed, but it is keeping the soil there very cool and it is hiding a very happy cucumber plant, and my biggest squash on the other side. It is helping my garden for free!

The cinder block bed is doing okay. The tomatoes are kind of scraggly, but a couple do have blossoms. The peas are growing slowly, and the cabbages are now crowded! I expected only one or two to make it. You can’t see them, but there are sugar baby watermelon plants on the left of the blocks.

The backyard garden is doing well, I will update on that one soon.