Thursday, August 11, 2016

Planting a Mini Garden

I love gardens of any kind but my favorites are cutting gardens of flowers and vegetable gardens. I’ve always had a cutting garden in the borders around my home but I’ve never actually had a vegetable garden. Our home is in the country and people around us who have gardens have really big gardens that involve a lot of work and a tractor. Those gardens are dependent on good soil and water. The gardens in my area remind me of Jane and Leo’s garden at Cottage at the Crossroads. You must click the link to see it. They have a wonderful garden! While I don’t need a big garden I wanted to try a mini garden and I finally got it done this year!

mini garden August - 5

Although I got a late start, my mini garden has been growing for 2 months now and I am loving it! I didn’t get anything in the ground until June 11and we have already harvested a few squash and zucchini and will be picking the green beans this week and pulling a fresh tomato or two.

mini garden June 6

Our little summer cottage is surrounded by mature trees so we have a lot of shade. The sunniest spot is this little space next to the driveway. I purchased a pressure treated 2 x 10 board that is 10 feet long and another one that is 8 feet long. I cut one length of the shorter board down to 3 feet and the another down to 3 1/2 feet to maximize the space that I have. I used screws to attach the short boards to the long one to create the frame then butted it up next to the driveway.

mini garden July-4

I bought a couple of bags of garden soil and I emptied all of the planting containers that no longer had plants but still had soil. I also shoveled out the composted ashes from our fire pit and added them to the new garden. I plan to add more growing medium next year.

mini garden July-4

I planted two rows of okra at the back and two rows of green beans in the front.

mini garden July-1 

The picture above was taken one month after planting.

mini garden July-2

I also used this little patio planter that is on wheels although I don’t move it around.

mini garden July-3

In the patio planter I planted one yellow squash plant, one zucchini plant and a tomato plant. I also planted a cucumber plant but it died immediately!

mini garden August - 7

The picture above was taken almost two months after planting. Here you can see that the lower end of my mini garden is growing faster than the other end because it gets water from the lawn sprinkler.

mini garden August - 1

mini garden August - 2

mini garden August - 4

mini garden August - 3

Just before I snapped these pictures I added the soaker hose on a timer to water while I am traveling.

mini garden August -8

If you look closely you can see a squash right in the center of the photo above.

mini garden August - 6

We should have at least two more months of growing time so I’m anxious to see how my mini garden plays out.

I hope that you are enjoying this last hot month of summer!

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I’m linking to Grace at Home, to Thoughts of Home on Thursday and to Metamorphosis Monday. Click the links for lots of inspiration.

5 comments:

Shenita @ Embellishments by SLR said...

Pat, your garden is really thriving! My husband has a small raised garden on the side of the house, out back. We've harvested quite a few tomatoes, peppers and squash. Nothing like fresh veggies!

Stacey said...

Smart girl! A mini garden is really all you need. Right? I've heard so many people say they over planted and then couldn't figure out what to do with all of it.

Happy Thoughts of Home. :)

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

Your garden is looking good!

I only did a zucchini in a painted 5 gallon bucket on the deck this year and we have a few volunteer tomatoes in the compost pile! We scaled back this year as we have wonderful produce stands around in our area.

I love cutting gardens too!

Pam Richardson said...

Your mini-garden is really doing well, and I spotted that squash! So hot and dry here, tomatoes have just about faded! Pam @ Everyday Living

Shirley@Housepitality Designs said...

Love your mini garden!....Would love one, but the deer would love it too!....
Good luck with it...looking forward to seeing updates....