Up is the way to go!

On the way to work on the bus in the morning I pass the road to my garden. I try and sit on the side of the bus so that I can look down it. There isn't much to see. It is dark and usually raining and sometimes fog that pools over the area. Still it comforts me to know that it is there. I have renewed it for another year and I think of it silently waiting for me.

Last weekend I was craving some of my lovely veggies and vowed that next year I would make better use of my space and try and grow more things vertically if possible. I actually went to a farmers market and bought some misshapen carrots. At least mine aren't the only ones!

My veggies are all but gone with the exception of some beets that I have in the freezer and some pesto sauce from my basil. If I had been smarter I could have some beans and peas frozen as well as kale. I didn't get many peas but I hate to freeze them as they are so good. I can't imagine having so many that you couldn't eat them! Carrots don't really freeze that well I have found but I think I read somewhere that you can store them in sand or something. Again, something to look into.

This I think is a great idea for a raised garden bed and I found the idea again on Pintrest, my favorite source.

It would work great in my small garden. There would still be room to walk through but I could grow beans and peas up it and still have lots of garden real estate left over.

My potato patch could also use a bit of reorganization. Last year I bought a bag of seed potatoes and they took up way too much space. Plus the fact that I didn't cut them. My reasoning was that I didn't have very much room and if I cut them I would have needed more space. Well, next year I might do something like this..

Grow your potatoes in towers (Pintrest again). Brilliant. I have seen others that might work better using wire and straw so I'm not sure which way I will go but definitely up I think is the best choice.

This was an inventive way to grow tomatoes from one of my fellow gardeners. Can you tell we get a lot of rain here? It is cute but not much protection from the wind and blight. A for effort. I'm thinking of something with pvc pipes, clamps and plastic for next year.

Sweet Dreams little garden

I had a day off today and it turned out to be a beautiful day. It has been raining non stop for what seems like weeks and not just light rain, torrential rain. The trees are in their last stages of glory.

I have been thinking of my poor uncovered beds and it has been bugging me... a lot. If there has been a break I'm usually at work. The weekends have been very bad. When I went last I didn't really have enough leaves and they were just beginning to fall so I made do with what I had but it was always niggling at me.

I raked up all the leaves in our yard and threw them in my car. I then raked the front and even took the next door neighbours leaves. They probably think I'm a really nice person raking their leaves and taking them away. Three big bags total. Lovely, lovely leaves!

I donned my rubber boots, gathered up a cart and headed to my plot. Some of the plots were seriously under water. Pretty disheartening. It makes me so grateful for my lovely spot.

It looks so neat and pretty with all the fall leaves in the boxes. They are pretty damp so I don't think they should blow away too easily. My garlic was starting to come up so I made sure I mulched them well with leaves. 

Sweet dreams little garden. I hope to see you in the spring. May the winter treat you well....