After reading this post at Riot for Austerity I started thinking about the part that gardening has played in my life and about how it's just something that I do. This is really the result of having grown up with gardens. Of having grown up around people who have had their habits shaped by the US depression in the 1920's and World War Two, of having great grandparents who were immigrants from Italy, of being around people who believe in being as self sufficient as possible. I suspect that I don't have the average perspective of people my age about gardening (I am 30 something), that it's just a part of what you do. Even if you just have a balcony on an apartment. And I think this is going to give me the motivation to do something I've wanting to do for awhile. I've dabbled off and on with garden journals, but never really organized myself well. So my thought at the moment is to put that garden journal out for everyone to see. To document what I'm doing in the garden on a regular basis and how I'm doing it. I'm hoping that I can show that it doesn't take lots of time, money, or space. That it is doable for someone who works 40 hours a week and spends 7 hours a week in commuting (due to bus and walking). To get started here's my main garden and some of the things I grew this year:
My garden can get pretty messy. I don't fuss about grass growing in certain places. I hate mowing so often go too long between mows (not that there is a lot left to mow...).
I'm also not very interested in straight rows. I've had more tidy gardens, but honestly they don't interest me much. Beneficial insects like things a little messy too (that might be a rationalization for me to let it be a little shaggy :) )
Other vegetables, herbs and fruits that I grow that aren't in this area are: squash, strawberries, more raspberries, two other apple trees, a pear tree, a bay tree, cucumbers, a cherry tree, beans, a fruiting quince tree, lettuce, broccoli, and cauliflower. Oh and usually cabbage and kale too. I think that's it. This plus about 30 roses (mostly rugosas and heirloom varieties) and quite a few flowers, all on a largish city lot. The lot is largish 'cause the house is very small.
This fall I started digging this area out some more. I'm planning on leaving a space for the possibility of building a cob greenhouse.
I'm also going to move more of my fruits and vegetables back here. Up until this year I've always hand watered. After reading Steve Solomon's book, Gardening When it Counts (about gardening with less water), I've decided to get a sprinkler. To make this effective, I need to move all my higher water crops to one area.
This really brings up what I'm doing in the garden right now-planning mostly. A couple weeks ago I put in my garlic (Nootka Rose, Inchelium Red, and Spanish Roja). I also planted some dutch red shallots. I'm starting to go through my seed collection and decide what I want to order.
And to give an idea of how big a mess I can make, here's what the lot looked like when I moved here 5 years ago: