May First Garden Photos

HAPPY MAY DAY!

First, it's been a while since I posted. I've been working in the garden and yard.

Here's a photo of the pretty pink blooms on my bush bean plants. I think we'll have beans soon!

The way I garden is from a book I bought in the mid-70's, the title is "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew. I recommend it to anyone who has a small space, or who doesn't want to spend a lot of time weeding and watering.

Each raised garden bed is four foot by four foot. Each is divided into twelve one foot squares with a divider, to help show where things are planted.

These are the three four foot by four foot beds we set up on the lot next to the house after we bought it in April. We brought in fresh soil and compost to fill the beds six inches deep, with a weed barrier on the bottom first to keep the weeds from growing up through.

We just finished having a new fence built around the side yard. It's a privacy fence on one side and a four foot picket fence on the front and sides.

The three garden beds are closer to the side of the house than the center of the lot, because there are lots of trees in the yard and I needed to avoid the shade.

You can see my bright red tomato and cucumber cages. They're very sturdy and square instead of round, and they fold flat for storage when the season is over.

The big plant in the front corner there is a zucchini squash. In square foot gardening a squash gets three square feet, and when we planted it, it looked so lonely there in the middle of the bed. But now, it's got those huge leaves, so it's a good thing I gave it as much room as recommended. 

It is blooming now, we'll hopefully have zucchini in a week or two. YUM! See the baby zucchini growing where the bright yellow flowers are?

I haven't had to spray to keep off the squash bugs yet, but I think I'll mix up some soap water spray and give them a squirt, just in case those bugs get any ideas about my squash plants.

I've wanted a garden for such a long time, in Saint Louis we didn't own the house so digging up the yard just wasn't a good option. It's an indulgence, and I get out every morning and water the plants to check on progress.

How's your garden growing??