our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

Our Yard & Gardens in May // Part 2

DenaMay 26, 2015

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

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Welcome to part two of Our Yard & Gardens in May. As I mentioned in part one, there’s so much blooming out there right now that I had to make two posts to cover it all. In this post, I’ll talk about what we’ve got going on in our backyard. We’ve got a few beds containing ornamental shrubs and flowers along the house, but today I’m going to focus on our three primary gardens. There is one along the rock wall, containing vegetables, herbs, and perennials; one in the upper yard, containing vegetables; and finally a small garden box and planter on the deck.

We’ve put a lot of effort into the gardens this year, having started everything from seed! The vast majority of our seeds come from Johnny’s Select Seeds. We’ve done a lot of research, and through trial & error, we’ve found that Johnny’s seeds are the best around.

Here in the Northeast US we have a short growing season, so we start all of our seeds inside. Once we were passed the point of frost concerns, we slowly introduced the seedlings to the outdoors — leaving them out in the sun during the day and bringing them inside after sunset. Finally, when the seedlings were “hardened off” (adjusted to the hot sun, dry air, and colder nights) we planted them in the ground.

The first garden that I’ll share is the garden along the rock wall. We have plants on the bottom and on the top of the rock wall. Most of the plants are labeled in the photographs below. There are a variety of vegetables, fruit, herbs, and flowers.

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

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our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

You will notice that some of the areas of mulch are darker than others. This is because we’ve installed a soaker hose. We ran the hose from the spigot, along the house, and then buried it in the garden. This makes watering the plants super easy — all we have to do is turn on the hose, no spraying needed. When it comes times for us to go on vacation, we’ll hook it up to a timer so that the plants will continue to be watered while we’re away.

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

Next up, on the top section of the wall we have a few blueberry bushes, lavender, and yarrow. On the bottom section, we have our tomatoes — gold cherry, red cherry, and slicers. We’ve chosen not to use tomato cages and to use sticks as stakes instead. We prefer the natural look of the stakes. Staking also provides an earlier harvest than caging, which is important for us here considering our short growing season. Of all of the things that we grow, the cherry tomatoes are my very favourite. They are so sweet and juicy — just like candy!

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

We also have cucumber and cayenne pepper growing along the bottom of the wall. There are broccoli and red cabbage plants down there, too.

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

Finally, in the soil to the left of the staircase, we’ve planted a watermelon. We’ve never grown melon before, so this will be a test.

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

Along the right side of the wall is our herb and perennial garden, including thyme, basil, bee balm, zinnia, tiger lily, black-eyed susies, and a few other things. I got a late start last year and the zinnias were my only flowers to bloom (aside from the tiger lily and susies which have been coming up for years). Even still, the hummingbirds loved the zinnias. I can’t wait to see this section of the garden in full bloom this year. It’s going to be beautiful.

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

Next up is the garden at the top of our yard. When I took these photographs, we hadn’t finished mulching the garden so it’s half light and half dark. It’s finished now. Everything in this garden is labeled below, but I forgot to label the row of spinach which is to the right of the sugar snap peas.

We don’t have a soaker hose installed in this garden because it is too far from the house. We have a wire fence around this section, too, to keep wild animals out.

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our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

2015_garden-28

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

Finally, we have the garden box and strawberry planter. In the garden box we have spinach and romaine and in the planter we have five strawberry plants. We’ve never grown strawberries, so we’ll see how it goes. We’re always learning out there in the garden!

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

our gardens in may // livelovesimple.com

Phew — that’s it for our gardens! We’ve put a lot of work and love into it this year and we’re hoping for a big payoff. Our dream is to grow all of the fresh produce that we’ll need through the summer and to eliminate as much of our grocery shopping as possible. If everything produces well, we might even have an oversupply. If we do, we’re going to experiment with canning, pickling, and freezing.

I’ll be sure to snap photographs & share updates along the way. I took these photographs last week and everything has already changed a bunch.

If you’ve got any questions for me about our process or experiences, feel free to ask away!

What about you? Are you into gardening? Have anything growing this year?

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Comments (2)

  • Tina

    May 26, 2015 at 11:11 am

    WOW you are growing so much!! This is so so amazing. I love how so much of it is just naturall in your yard rather than in all raised beds like I’ve been seeing lately. Your garden has a nice natural flow to it. I am so jealous and also excited to start growing once I move to Florida. Can’t wait to see more photos once things start coming in!

  • Robyn Kearns

    May 27, 2015 at 11:28 am

    Amazing! Healthy and Smart.

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