Sunday, May 23, 2010

Vegetable Garden Layout

The weather was very nice that day. Breezy, not too hot although the sun was shining bright, and I was quietly working in my plot removing the weeds and loosen up the soil for the new seeds when I heard a conversation between a neighbor gardener to a woman. I cannot help it to hear their conversation perhaps because the wind was blowing their words towards me.
“Gardening is like therapeutic. You will love it.” The man said to the woman.
“It is chilly here.” The woman said to the man.
“You just have to water these plants once every other day when it is not raining. Even if the weatherman said it may rain, you might need to come and water the plants. This area dry out quickly.“
The man then said “I don’t mind if you want to take some of the vegetables. I will be away for 2 weeks. When I come back I will check on these plants.”
The woman then said “I pass by this area everyday on my way to pick up my kids. I can check on these plants while you are away.”

I do believe that gardening can be a therapeutic activity for some. I don’t think that bad economy is the main reason for people to start working in their backyard and grow vegetables for the household. The truth is, working in the garden can cost more than shopping at the market sometimes. The plants need water when there is no rain. Meaning the water bill will go up. Some of the heirloom seeds or plants are expensive.

Whatever the reason is for sitting on the dirt, burn the skin under the hot sun, weeding and mess up the nails, gardening is my favorite pastimes.

Soon I will be able to harvest some of the vegetables and add them in my cooking.
Lets see what I have thus far.
Above are garlic. They look like onion but their leaves slightly branching out than onion.
A full view of my garden. Peas, peppers, onion, beans, tomato etc. are all growing. Some are growing slowly because we have been getting cloudy and breezy days for many weeks. Tomato and peppers need hot days to flourish.
The aromatic herb of lavender. I like the deep purple flowers on this lavender.
Above is potato. I am giving this plant a close watch. I don't want the potato beetles to have them for their meals. The bugs can eat this beautiful plant in no time all the way to the root. Yikes!
Above is a row of turnip. They are growing nicely. This turnip is grown for the leaves. It is call the Seven top turnip. I believe that I will not get the turnip bulb on this type.
The above picture are peas, onion, peppers and peas. I cannot wait to get some fresh peas.
The square patches are a new bed I prepared for lettuces and radishes. I did inventory on my seed packet and found 11 packets of radishes. Some are dated in 2008. The seeds might still good. So, I sprinkled them in the garden. On the left of the square patch is purple string beans. They are still small because of the cold weather we've been having. But soon, they will grow quicker when the temperature on a steady rate of 70 degree F.
Tomato start to flowering.
Row of corn. I have spaced them about 6 inches apart on planting the seeds.

6 comments:

  1. Zue,the garden look really good this year. The lavender is really nice. By the way,you can start picking the pucuk of the pea plants. There were really good stir-fry.

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  2. Tomorrow I will pick the pea pucuk. Can I cut the lavender now and let it dry or wait a bit longer?

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  3. wow! wonderful garden! I bet it'll look beautiful in the months to come. nice variety too.

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  4. k.zu,
    kebun sy yg sekangkang kera ni punya le susah nak jaga.. mcm mana le k.zu boleh berkebun tanah sebesar tu..

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  5. Dhill, tengok la nak balas your message pun took me a while.

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  6. T, thanks. Check the website for updates.

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