I don’t know why I keep thinking gardening is such a great idea, but I think it’s mostly how cute Gabe looks in the garden. Last year, he crawled around and tried to eat dirt; this year, he’s helps to weed (Er, sort of. “Not the tomatoes plants! Just the little plants!”) and runs through the spray from the garden hose.
Like last year, we have a plot at our apartment garden – double the size, though, which is exciting. We kept about the same number of plants, since last year we may have gone overboard and when the garden exploded with vegetables, it choked out a few of the plants.
We do the lazy gardeners way – lots of small plants from Home Depot –
Walking the plants out to the garden –
We see this wall on the way out the garden and I just love it –
Got my gardening sandals on. ;)
These little planters at the best invention ever – they are compostable pots that create way less waste than those thin plastic planters –
You just dig a hole, rip off the bottom half of the pot and throw the pieces in the hole, then put the plant in the hole – no trash, no transplanting, just the easiest way to start a garden ever!
What goes into the Lazy Person’s Home Garden? We got five tomato plants (four of them were heirloom, which I was pleasantly surprised to find at Home Depot), a black zucchini plant, three bell peppers, a basil plant, and a bunch of onions. We still have a bit of room, so we might get some more plants – any recommendations for easy, productive plants?
Getting the onions spaced for planting –
We also have an herb planter on our balcony for easy access to herbs while cooking dinner. The only thing that survived through the winter is this sad, pathetic little mint situation-
Gabe love to pick leaves off to eat, which has led to him thinking all leaves are great for eating. Oops.
Why I Wanted A Garden
Mike didn’t want to garden again this year. It’s five flights of steps to go outside and we’re, you know, lazy. But I insisted. What I love most about gardening is, in fact, not the delicious bounty that comes (last year, our eggplant was in weird shapes and the cucumbers grew to a foot long and were bitter-tasting), but the fact that Gabe gets to see it all happen.
Gabe participates in the process and sees us plant the plants, water the garden, take out the weeds, and sees the tiny vegetables start to grow. He eats fresh veggies from the garden and I hope that he’ll know where food comes from and continue to be a non-picky little eater because of it.
Sure, this is on a small scale (our garden is only a hundred square feet), but it’s the kind of thing that I’ve always wanted to do; the kind of thing I’ve always wanted to do with my kids “someday.” Maybe I like the idea more than the practice (again: lazy), but I have dreams of a giant garden and growing all of our own produce someday, of being a little hippie self-sustaining family.
Perhaps even more fantastic, it gets us outside every single day – and that’s what I want for us. I’ll be sharing our summer bucket list (bandwagon alert!), and being outside every day is most certainly on there.
Are you a gardener? Tell me your secrets! Or at least recommend easy plants. I like easy.
I got all excited and planted a garden last year. Why I don’t know because I don’t really like bugs (I’m a screamer!) and I was due with our first baby so you know, all the time and energy in the world to devote to gardening. I was so baby-distracted and tired that I left our harvest out there to rot. It’s just an overgrown mess this year but NEXT year, I’m hoping to get back it. Mostly because I want ready access to fresh herbs and cheaper “organic” produce. Good luck with your garden! I don’t know if you read Bower Power Blog but I want her garden set up: http://www.bowerpowerblog.com/2012/05/garden-season-2/
lettuce and carrots are super easy to grow! My grandparents have had a garden for YEARS and one of my favorite parts of summer was always going to help them pick and can green beans and having fresh washed lettuce on sandwiches and the little carrots that my nana would always put on veggie platters :)
When I was growing up my family always had a huge garden – but I have no green thumb whatsoever. I kept plants in three window boxes alive last year but this year they’re already looking kind of brown. I think I’ll have to re-plan thy the end of the month. I’d like to try a real garden when we buy a house, but I might have to fly my grandma out to teach me how to keep things alive :D
I just did a post at my blog about how I have gone way overboard this year with the veggies and herb plants! I am really enjoying growing parsley, chives, dill, and fennel this year. They really grow like weeds and as long as you water them once a day they keep a steady supply for me to grab. I use the left over bottoms of the chives from the store and they just keep regrowing in the soil (and faster than from seed).
Big secret for tomato and pepper plants: add coffee grounds or tea grounds to the soil to add nitrogen. I also add egg shells to add calcium. Tomato and pepper plants love it!
Awww, I love your garden plot and think it’s such a great way for your whole family to get outside and for Gabe to watch things grow. Gavin LOVES playing in the dirt in our garden and will help us pull out branches and weeds. One day, we’ll have our own yard where we can plant food and watch it grow, too.
I love your reasoning behind the garden. I was just watching a video of Jamie Oliver addressing an audience and showing clips of elementary age children who could not identify vegetables. It’s so important for kids to understand where food comes from and what it does for us! Good for you!
I’ve only really grown herbs and tomatoes in the past, but this year I’m trying strawberries and raspberries too! My fingers are crossed that I don’t kill them first :)
This is our first year of having a veggie garden (there are some photos on my blog). We have 6 raised beds, and I’m learning as I go. So far the lettuce, kale, and spinach is growing like weeds, and we’ve already had to harvest it 3 times! The most frustrating part is pest management though. Slugs and aphids are our biggest issue so far. It is really rewarding though, and I get so excited when I see everything growing :)
Hey! We do a garden with tomatoes, zucchinis, strawberry, and watermelon. This year, our compost gave us lots of freebie plants – like, we have no idea what they are, but they are from the seeds to the veggies we roasted and pureed for my daughter’s babyfood. I think they are Cinderella pumpkins and butternut squash!
If you have extra room, I would not recommend any kind of squash. They take too long and produce too few for the amount of land they take up. That’s my idea, anyway.
I am also a nay-sayer when it comes to Heirloom tomatoes. Ours never workout like they do in the photos! The basic, four pack nondescript red ones from home depot really, really grow! They give dozens, but the heirlooms give like four. And they take sooooo long to grow in comparison.
I’ve never had a garden, but it’s something I’ve been wanting to try. You make it look possible! I’ll look for those pots whenever I decide to give it a go.
It only took a few hours from start to finish! Now I water for a few minutes a day – pretty easy. :)
Oh man, I love talking gardening. This year we’re growing tomatoes (19 plants, OMG!), hot peppers, sunflowers, four kinds of squash, 2 types of cucumbers, beets, and some herbs (which I predict will not live to see the day, since I had to plant them in a pot, as I ran out of room in the garden.) Here’s a picture I took last night: http://www.flickr.com/photos/32315426@N03/7157596671/in/set-72157624572287122/
I remember how excited you were about gardening last year! It surprised me, since I wouldn’t have pegged you as a gardener. I LOVE your garden – it’s perfect! I think I might have garden envy.
We have two raised bed gardens! Tomatoes are easy and fun, one bed is for that! Have you ever put in sunflowers, just for fun? I love planting and watching sunflowers grow in the garden. We’ve also got BEANS (so easy and fun because when they’re all ready to go you can freeze them and eat them later :-)) We planted some onions, lettuce (though we’ve never had any luck with lettuce…), parsley, carrots, zucchini, green peppers, and I think I’m probably forgetting something, but can’t think of it. Anyway–it’s so fun when things start ripening and we can eat it. Plus it’s fun to say “that’s from our garden!” :) I love your blog–thanks for sharing about your “lazy garden.” It sounds fun.
I love the availability of heirloom varieties at Home Depot; it will surely make gardening a better task.
Love it! Yes, I’m glad you didn’t wait until someday – and to me, your garden size sounds totally perfect. It fits your needs, gives you the fresh veggies you like, and gives your son a chance to experience it all.
Easy plants, you say? I think beans and peas are easy – peas can be started really early, beans a little later, but I like them because they provide some height (as I like the pole bean varieties, and peas like to climb, too). Radishes grow quick (about 28 days), and are easy, too! There are many fun varieties of those too, besides just the boring ones you buy in the store —
Loved you post- thanks!
Wow! You know your stuff. I might try some beans or peas, thanks! I’ve never really known what to do with radishes – salad?
I love the idea of gardening, but it never ends up happening. I love watching things grow and having our own food, but I’m so lazy, too! Our apartment has a great little yard, but it’s full of weeds, and the idea of spending hours in the sun tearing that up just sounds awful to me. Also, I don’t know a thing about plants (although my mom was a professional gardener, so that’s probably not a huge deal). I will be doing some herbs, though, because they seem easy (?) and buying herbs is ridiculously expensive.
That looks like so much fun! I can’t wait to have a space to garden in!
Out of everything I think I love my herb garden the best! It looks pretty, smells yummy and is just easy and fun! I also like growing tomatoes, peppers of all kinds, and most of the squash family grows well and are easy to take care of! :) and hey small scale large scale what have you anything is better than nothing! So props to you for doing any kind of gardening! :) What you do grow at least you know where it came from!