{Garden} Veggie Garden

One of the items on my 40 before 40 list was to change out rock garden into a veggie garden. So we did and I'm happy to say that we have produced enough lettuce to feed our entire family (and then some), the broccoli is pretty much done for the summer, and our tomato and tomatillos are looking really good!

As for the items on my list, it ended up that we combined 17 (plant a veggie/fruit garden) and 18 (rescue cactus garden) into one. We still need to add more plants so it includes more fruit, but for now 17 is basically done, or at least in progress as the side bar says, and 18 will be considered done as we completely removed our cactus garden. I'm ok with it being gone as many of the pots have been reused throughout the rest of our yard and many were planted with annuals to brighten up Lily's garden this spring.

Just to show you the progress of the space, here's what it used to be:

It started out being a fenced in garden that only housed the prickly pear cactus. That cactus took  up a good portion of the garden area but we cut it out and only kept enough to fill two small planters. Those are now overflowing, but that's another issue.

Here's the garden looking a lot better. We had just finished making it our rock garden in 2008 and it was turning out to be a great space. Everything in the ground was able to winter over and everything in pots (except the prickly pear in the back left corner and the hens and chicks in the bottom right) had to be brought inside. After successfully killing all but the giant cactus that first winter, and then also becoming pregnant with Lily, we realized the rock garden wasn't a match for us. But wasn't it pretty?

So, fast forward to today. The area is a decent size with lots of light, so we knew a regular veggie garden would be good for this space. We have a smaller area in our yard where our raspberries and cilantro are. I may rip out all of the cilantro and do an herb garden somewhere else but that's for next year.

We did have to fence it in. Krypto enjoys digging. A lot.

After the summer ends this year, I may do things differently next year. We're trying out different plants as we go along and although I'm pretty sure we'll be happy, I may rearrange the garden differently next year. This year we didn't plan all that well but focused on getting specific things in when we had them. We had bought some of the plants and were given others by my dad.

I'm also afraid of weeding in there because I think there are a few baby plants that may be peppers or tomatoes. After Doug mows the lawn, he puts the grass clippings on top. This helps keep most weeds away and retains moisture.

We do have plans of using more of our yard for gardens in the future. I'd like to get some sort of fruit tree, possibly two or three, and put them in our front yard or back yard. A few more berry bushes will happen too. My parents have a huge garden, so I'm not stressing over producing a lot but everything helps! We love to eat fruits and veggies and going organic, producing our own products, and showing Lily how to grow plants is definitely worth the time and energy. And now it's off to go water. We haven't had much rain here and I don't want things dying! I'll keep the blog posted when we get some good produce out of here (besides lettuce, that stuff needs NO help!)