Monday, June 13, 2022

T Stands for The Veggie Garden

 Hi everyone. Happy Tuesday, or since I like to post early, Happy Monday night. It is time once again for T over at  Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog . 

Last week I mentioned my love-hate relationship with my veggie garden, and  today I wanted to share  the rest of my veggie garden project which is now done.  Hurrah! 

 You might remember how last week I mentioned that  while planting the garden, I ran out of coconut mulch. This mulch was something new I was trying in my veggie garden to keep in moisture and hold back the weeds. I went out and picked up enough coconut mulch  to finish off the areas around my peppers and tomatoes. I wanted to cover a few more areas of the garden, but I ran out of mulch again. (And I'm not going to buy any more at this point either.)



You can see the new mulch is much finer than the first mulch I bought.  You buy coconut mulch in little cubes and then expand it with water in a wheelbarrow or bucket. The finer mulch came in smaller cubes, and it was more expensive than the bigger chip style mulch. (But then I bought each mulch at different places so that may not be generally true.) Both cubes expanded a lot, especially the finer mulch. I went with finer mulch this time because I thought this would be a good test to see which, if either of these mulches,  keeps the weeds down the best. I will keep you posted as the summer progresses.

I also had another veggie garden project I was doing. My other  project was to make a raised bed outside of the actual garden where I could plant cucumbers and squash. When we first established the veggie garden, the area received more sunshine. Then this spindly little sugar maple grew into a big but  very lovely tree. My husband wants to cut it down, but I like the tree too much to do that. 

Now half the garden gets sunshine all day, and half only gets it part of the day.  Not enough sun for getting lots of cukes and squashes.

Last fall I measured out a space and laid down some weed barrier where I wanted to put this raised bed. You can tell the weed barrier was useless as it is all puffed up from weeds growing under it. This spot gets almost all day sunshine. My husband has been rolling his eyes at me ever since telling me last fall that this  was a monster sized garden bed. (You can tell he is not a gardener, but more about that later in the post.) We had some spare lumber, so I asked him to cut  the wood for the sides of the bed last weekend. He did it, but he did more eye rolling too.



One day last week I assembled the sides and started moving the bags of soil I have been collecting every time I took a trip to a garden center in the last few months. That was hard work, as  the bags were in the driveway and I had to move them uphill. And 2 bags  had mini holes in them,so after a day with LOTS of rain, the soil was so wet the bag weighed twice what it did when I bought it. 

I planted my squash and cucumber seedlings and used some of the coconut mulch on top to keep the weeds down. 


Here's the finished bed. I also put some netting over it that is hard to see in the photo, and thank goodness I did. Later that day there was a woodchuck/groundhog right next to the garden.  I know he/she was just lusting after those fresh seedlings. (I'd lost them before to woodchucks and chipmunks.) I just hope the woodchuck can't eat through the netting.

And when my husband "inspected" the new finished garden bed, he told me that it makes the perfect size for what I want to plant in it.  After all that eye rolling, thanks  for your support dear. 😑

 I have never spent so much time getting my veggie garden going, but it was my big garden goal for the year. I wanted to be able to check that off the list, and hurrah, I did. Let's hope it produces enough veggies to make up for all the time and work (and money) I put into it.

Since it is T day I need a drink photo. 

Here's my jug of water that I take out into the garden with me.


And you can see I also take the jug with me to other places, like out onto my screen porch so I can enjoy it while in my hammock. 

This jug is made by the Life Is Good company, who I am NOT advertising for. I love the sticker looking design that covers this jug. If you aren't familiar with Life Is Good, the company makes lots of casual clothing, including Life Is Good T shirts.  The shirts have images on them, and all the images on my water jug come off of various shirts they have made. I like their T shirts and wear the ones I have a lot in the summer. 

This post has become long enough. Thank you for visiting. And of course, have a great T day and week ahead also.




20 comments:

Kate Yetter said...

Loved reading about your garden, Erika. You have put SO much work into this. I hope you get a great yield and I look forward to hearing how your mulch experiment turns out. Last year I filled my raised beds with a very expensive soil mixture from Square Foot gardening method. Obviously weeds shouldn't get through since there is no contact with the ground. I didn't plant anything yet due to sickness but my beds are covered in weeds. So aggravating!
Happy Tea Day,
Kate

DVArtist said...

Good job on the garden. We have had so much rain that I have lost many plants. I am sure my potato plants are ruined. It's been such a strange weather year. Hope you grow lots of goodies.

kathyinozarks said...

Hi Erika, you have done allot of hard work I can relate to moving heavy bags of soil and mulch, I have to get the bags down the steep hill and then down some steep steps-have to be creative to get it down there haha.
I have never seen coconut mulch in the stores, sounds interesting. good luck with your veggie garden this year hugs Happy T Kathy

Linda Kunsman said...

After all that work I wish you nothing but a fantastic veggie producing garden for both you and hubby to enjoy!
You certainly deserve a rest in the hammock with that fun jug of water. Happy T day!

Mae Travels said...

So far you have a very impressive vegetable garden — I hope it continues to be impressive when it’s time for harvest! We love trees so our yard has not a single spot where vegetables would be successful.

best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com

Carola Bartz said...

You really put a lot of work in your veggie garden and I'm sure you feel very good about it now. I keep my fingers crossed that you will get a lot of tasty veggies this year. And keep that sugar maple - having a big tree in the garden is good. The raised bed looks great and I also hope that the woodchuck can't eat through the netting.

jinxxxygirl said...

What a fab post and fab garden!! No matter how long it took you , you are way more energetic than me.. I'm afraid i would have to keep the Maple too..lol.. no matter how much eye rolling i tolerated..lol I'd say the weed fabric worked pretty good as i don't see any weeds coming through.. Also weed fabric breaks down in the sun.. So you shouldn't put it down until your ready to cover it with something.. I have alot of weed fabric in my future... I've also heard of people putting down two layers.. i can't wait to see your garden grow! Happy T day! Hugs! deb

Angie's Recipes said...

Fantastic! Looks like that you are going to have a busy summer for taking care of the garden and harvesting of your hard work.

Iris Flavia said...

That would be too much garden work for me! You have my respect and I hope you get rewarded big!
Our new neighbors have a green hammock, too. I´m no jealous person but feel kinda a bit odd on my very old garden chair, LOL.

Your water jug is super cool and sweet!
Have a happy T-Day! Hugs.

Valerie-Jael said...

Gardens are a lot of work, but yours is coming along nicely. My balcony flowers are doing very well in the coconut mulch, and it holds the water very well! Happ T Day, Valerie

Jeanie said...

I've never heard of the cube mulch. Seems like that would be a lot easier to manage than hauling those big bags from the store (I don't have enough to do a truckful.) Your garden is so neat and tidy and your containers look great!

CJ Kennedy said...

Your new garden bed would make Himself's heart go pit-a-pat. I'd rather sit in the hammock with an iced tea. I love the life is good t-shirts too. I have several. The designs are fun and the material is so comfy. Happy T Day

Divers and Sundry said...

I've never heard of coconut mulch. I don't have room for raised beds, but back in the day I researched that and square foot gardening and remember the warning about the raised beds always turning out bigger than you think they are and so holding a lot more dirt than you think they will lol You are a smart gardener :) I look forward to vicarious veggie gardening ;)

I've missed T Stands for Tuesday during my staycation. It's good to be back.

Lisca said...

Gosh you have worked hard! I sure hope the wildlife doesn't eat your lovely plants. But the raised bed looks really good. Well done. I am very impressed.
Happy T-Day,
Hugs,
Lisca

David M. Gascoigne, said...

That garden looks like a lot of work, Erika, but a garden always is. I used to have a vegetable garden. I miss the fresh veggies but not all the work that was involved. Kudos to you for using a refillable water bottle. Life is indeed good and will only get better if more people follow your lead. I will look forward to seeing you model the company's tee shirts! Hugs - David

Let's Art Journal said...

Wow, your veggie garden is looks fabulous and I'm pleased to see your hammock out again now summer's here 😉. I have a couple of "Life is Good" tops and love this brand. Wishing you a very Happy T Day! Hugs Jo x

Aimeslee Winans said...

Hahaha, I'm very much amused by your eye-rolling" comments with you. Does he eye-roll in hopes of disuading you to ask for him to build it? Mine does that sort of thing, but lately he's been a whirlwind of activity. He built a plant caddy for my 41-y.o. airplane plant and is now cutting up styrofoam insulation sheets to insulate our garage door (which has 16 rectangle sections). Plus he waters the front yard but I had to shame him for only doing it once a week -- what? In this heat? Yes he did finally put the plants in the front flower beds like I asked for as my birthday present, but I'm like, now you gonna starve them of water? SMH he agreed to water every other day. The negotiations never stop! LOL Hope your week is going good and I'm very happy for you that you got all that "real" gardening done and off your list! XXO

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Been without electricity since about 6:30 pm yesterday. Never so glad to get my AC and internet back.

You have been ambitious. I know what you mean by potting soil that gets wet and weighs more. I have several large pots that I added much top soil to. So glad you got your garden planted. I've heard of and seen coconut SHELLS used as mulch, but they didn't look like that. I hope it works.

That must be a local company because I don't think they've made it to the midwest. I like the looks of the images on the Life is Good water mug. Thanks so mch for sharing your various gardening projects and your water jug with us for T this Tuesday, dear Erika.

Halle said...

Your garden is fab! I totally understand the eye rolling and less than supportive words. Mr. G often tells me that for all the work and cost(which is negligible) that I could just buy the produce. Nay-nay I say to that. Its a hobby too. :)
Happy T day!

pearshapedcrafting said...

That's a lot of work but it's looking good and I'm looking forward to seeing more as it matures! I have never been in a hammock but guess t must be relaxing, Belated Happy T Day, Chrisx