Garden tour summer 2017

A few (not all) of our harvests over the last week:

July 6: cherry & plum tomatoes, roma tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, green beans, okra

July 10: cucumber, figs, cherry & plum tomatoes

July 9: onions, basil, eggplant, plum & cherry tomatoes, banana pepper

July 12: red & green poblano peppers, cherry & plum tomatoes, okra, cucumber

We moved into our house in March 2016. Since then, we have been busy as beavers setting up our space. The 1/3-acre yard came with a 100-square foot garden bed, complete with a blackberry bush and an orange tree. All last summer, we thought it was a lime tree. We ate the green fruits quite a few times, and were disappointed in the poor flavor. Then, late in the year, the flesh inside turned orange. I identified them as Rangpur limes. They still weren’t very good. Around October, the whole fruits turned orange, they became juicy and sweet, and we finally realized they were oranges the whole time! There were hardly any fruits left by that point. Whoops! We’ve also planted a fig tree and a pomegranate tree, and we have room for at least two more fruit trees.

Blackberry bush, orange tree, and garden space that were here when we moved in. The garden beds are next to and behind the blackberry and orange. This bed doesn't get a lot of sun. Lettuce, sorrel, and cabbage have done well in there, but not much else.

Our array of pots containing tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. This space will be converted into a raised bed next year. We'll keep using the larger pots for veggies, but not the smaller ones. They're too small and we only used them because we had a lot of extra plants.

We built this raised bed in winter 2017. It has too much in it! It is crowded with a yellow plum tomato, cherry tomato, 4 kinds of basil, 5 okras, a bunch of cucumbers, and 2 large zucchinis. We understand the space better now and will plan accordingly next season.

We added another 200 square feet in edible garden spaces over the last year, in addition to at least 100 square feet of flower beds. Half of the new vegetable garden space is a raised bed made of cinderblocks. The other half is all pots, more than 20 of them. Some of them are too small for the plants they contain. We plan to convert all the space currently devoted to pots into a new raised bed within the next 6 months. And there will be further expansions. We have so many ideas for converting our lawn to food for us and local wildlife.

This is the back side of the raised cinderblock bed. You can see lots of cucumber plants, okras, and zucchini.

We planed this Celeste fig tree in spring 2016 and it's already 8' tall just over a year later! It had 3 figs this year. I spend much of my day in this sunroom, which we use as an office. I have a great view of the hummingbird feeder and its constant visitors from my desk. The cat also enjoys the good bird viewing.

You can grow a lot on 1/3-acre. In south Texas, we have the advantage of year-round gardening. A complete list of what we’re growing this summer is below. In spring, winter, and fall, we are able to grow cooler weather crops like lettuce and other greens, beets, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, and peas. Inside, we grow herbs in our Aerogarden, which I wrote about in detail in another post.

Three kinds of basil are visible here: purple feather (left), globe (center), and licorice (right).

Edibles we’re growing outside right now:
 
Veggies:

1. Okra
2. Tomatoes (5 kinds)
3. Cucumber
4. Zucchini
5. Green beans (2 kinds)
6. Peppers (5 kinds)
7. Onions
8. Eggplant (2 kinds)
9. Swiss chard

 
Herbs:

1. Sorrel (2 kinds)
2. Sage
3. Thyme (2 kinds)
4. Rosemary
5. Mint (2 kinds)
   
6. Chives
7. Basil (4 kinds)
8. Aloe

 
Fruit:

1. Oranges
2. Blackberries
3. Figs
4. Pomegranate (not producing yet)
5. Blueberries (not producing yet)
6. Pineapples (not producing yet)