Garden Goodies

We finally have a garden that is showing signs of promise. Our attempts over the past few years to garden in the soil have met with so many problems that it became discouraging. Crappy soil, numerous pests in the ground and above, hungry birds, windstorms, and more worked together to defeat our efforts. Then my sweetie saw some hydroponic equipment for sale on craigslist and thought, "Why not?"

Why not, indeed! This method of gardening has eliminated the problems of crappy soil and pests in the ground, as well as actually reducing the amount of water used. Birds are kept out with bird netting and the plants are more protected from the wind on the patio. We finally have a lush vegetable garden with the promise of tasty treats soon.


The loofah is blooming profusely, albeit mostly male blooms.


At least one female bloom managed to get fertilized and we now have a baby loofah high up on the vine. Although I really want to grow my own loofah sponge, I also want to try eating it as a vegetable. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the chance to do both this season.


We have a couple of bitter melons growing, which will be a new vegetable to both of us.


This baby bell pepper now has siblings. I love them when they turn red but will I have the patience to leave it on the plant that long?


This hot little purple pepper has been joined by numerous others. It's a type of cayenne pepper.


These eggplants are on the menu plan for the end of the week. They are a yellow variety and almost ready. (Photo is from a little while back.)


The tomatoes are producing a few fruits a week, but may pick up the pace as the temperatures cool off. The last few days of 100+ degrees are supposed to have been the last gasp of summer.


Okra pods are popping up on a few big plants in pots out in the yard. They had a bad case of spider mites but seem to have recovered.


I'm so excited to be harvesting from our back yard. It's makes me more eager than ever to get our own place where we can have a much larger garden. Instead of gradually trying to amend the soil as we did here, rather unsuccessfully, my sweetie plans to try a number of different techniques. The CSA farmer advised us to amend the soil and then plant legumes and wheat for the first season and then plow it under when it reaches knee height. He said whatever is planted after that will grow wonderfully.

My sweetie has also been reading Australian blogs and websites, written by people who have dealt with gardening in drought conditions for quite some time. He's itching to apply some of their ideas. Two possibilities are gardening on top of a huge worm bed in the ground with a hydroponic set-up and aquaponics. We may eventually have chickens as well to create additional fertilizer. Fish and chickens may seem like odd choices for vegans but the eggs and meat can both be used to make our dogs' diet more local.

That's all for now because I want to go back outside and admire the garden.