Every year, after the long cold winter, I look forward to planting a garden and watching it bloom. Some years are better than others. Over my blogging years, I’ve documented my gardens HERE and HERE. This year is so so, so far.
I wouldn’t say my thumb is black, but it’s definitely not a bright green. Maybe green/brown. This year seems to be against me more than normal. I blame the squirrels! Digging for their treasure in my pots (my fault, I didn’t put them away over the winter). It’s been a journey. Some of which I have documented!
My front “yard” (that is being generous—there is no grass, just a patch of dirt) is a hot mess and won’t be part of this post. I started working on it but it still needs help. Maybe I’ll share if I get it to a good spot later in the summer…
My back “yard” (again, generous—no grass, at least not that is mine to tend to) is basically full sun. I have a couple of perennials that return each year, but otherwise I mostly plant veggies and herbs in containers (since no yard). I try to also plant a couple annuals for pollination encouragement, and hope they don’t burn to a crisp (and that I remember to water them). You will soon see that I do not have any annuals at the moment.
So with that backstory in place, let’s take a mosey through the back garden!
Before
Pots placed and ready to go, a couple of perennials already sprouted!
Plans & Progress
I created a map in Milanote for what type of plant I wanted where. I just updated it with the veggies and herbs that I actually purchased and planted.
Peppers, strawberries and Japanese eggplant planted!
Lettuce, lavender, mint (top left), lavender again (top right), tomatoes and basil from seed (bottom left), (sad) cilantro (bottom right) added to the mix.
A memorial to one of the perennials before all the blooms blew off (see evidence below…)
Recovering after planting everything…
After
I moved some things around since taking the process photos:
- The cilantro basically died and disintegrated (after squirrels dug through the pot looking for their peanut stash)
- I moved the squirrel playground pot (with nothing planted in it) to the back side of the deck (not pictured). They haven’t dug in it again.
- The lettuce did not like the planter box (originally intended for flowers, still to come)
- I relocated the lettuce to a different pot and put in place of the cilantro.
- I also added a citronella plant to the table to ward off mosquitos (hasn’t worked).
Despite my non-consistent results, I do still love attempting a garden each year. We’ll see how my veggie yield turns out. I usually get at least one pepper, lol. This is my first attempt at eggplant and strawberries, and I chose different tomatoes than normal… We shall see!
Do you garden?
