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!

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.

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.

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.

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

 

The picture above was taken one month after planting.

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

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!

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.

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

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

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!

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