Small Green Project - Gardening

This post focuses on a passion for many, a chore for some, but an enjoyable pastime for me and at least some of you. Gardening is good for each of us that endeavors in the pastime. It is a low impact exercise, it provides healthy whole foods for consumption and it reduces the amount of money we pay to have vegetables shipped across the country to feed us. This spring I put in two 4' x 8' raised beds. I plan to add 1 or possibly 2 more raised beds next year. The beds were built from railroad ties and I added horse manure, topsoil and homegrown compost (post coming soon) This year we grew: grape,cherry, lemon boy, Arkansas traveler, and early girl tomatoes, as well as yellow squash, cucumbers, yellow bell peppers, cantaloupe, okra, and vidalia onions. In our herb planters we grew genovese basil, flat leaf parsley, rosemary, peppermint, and banana peppers.

I just removed our tomato plants and bought some fall plants for the garden. I am planning to plant lettuce, cabbage, Swiss chard ,and possibly broccoli . Our current weather patten has been non-stop rain, so as soon as I have a day or two that's dry I'll plant our fall crops.

Late summer this year I added 3 raised beds for perennial food crops. In those beds I planted blueberries, raspberries, and a fig tree. I also planted a couple of apple and plum trees. These long term perennials and biennials will take 2 -3 years to produce fruits so it has been an investment in our future crops. Next year I plan on adding a few more fruit trees as well as some grapevines.

Needless to say, but I've been bit by the gardening bug!
I'm growing the garden without pesticides, using natural fertilizer (compost) and watering with collected rainwater.



Here are some links if you are thinking of gardening:

http://www.uaex.edu/ - UA Cooperative Extension

http://www.arhomeandgarden.org/ - UA Cooperative Extension Home and Garden site

http://www.organicgardening.com/

http://www.garden.org/home

http://www.gardenweb.com/