Before (2011) and After (2012) Photos of My Veggie Garden

[jerryinfla]

Here are some before and after photos of my attempts to create a garden plot in my backyard. I took the before pics last September and the after pics today. Since last September, I've created nine 4'x 8' bordered beds with 3' mulched pathways between them. Soil in the beds is heavily amended with spent mushroom substrate topped off with compost that I made from kitchen waste, shredded leaves, seaweeds, spent mushroom substrate and garden debris.

Last year photos:
11.8.01.jpg11.8.02.jpg11.8.03.jpg11.8.04.jpg

This year photos:
12.8.01.jpg12.8.02.jpg12.8.03.jpg12.8.04.jpg

The three empty 4' x 8' beds all had stuff planted in them earlier this year, crops have been laid by and I'll be planting onions, garlic, and parsnips in them soon. Young plants in some beds are southern peas, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and sweet peppers. The old plants in the center bed are eggplants and bell peppers which I removed after I took the photos. I'll be planting collards, cabbage, carrots and Brussels sprouts soon. Vegetable gardening here in central Florida is a year long growing experience with vegetable production of some sort all year long. I'm still trying to learn what does best in the various seasons and what we like to eat best but I guess that will be a forever process .

[RobinB]

Wow, Jerry! Great job. It all looks so neat and orderly! Beautiful! I'm jealous that you can grow year round...

[salix]

Jerry, I echo RobinB's comment regarding neat and orderly. Your growing space is about one-third the area I have (more informal, ie not quite so neat and orderly, lol). I was originally thinking you needed more beds when I had the 'DUH!' moment - since you can grow all year round there is absolutely no need for more growing space. You do not have to produce everything in one fell swoop (one v. short growing season) and then spend days and weeks freezing, canning, dehydrating etc. for the rest of the year. Now you can paint me green with envy too! Mind you, we have minimal pests and diseases and a long resting season...

[jerryinfla]

I've spent a lot of time and energy transforming what use to be into what my plot looks like now so I appreciate your kind words Robin and salix. I'm anxious to see if all the hard work was worth it -- my soil is very much better now and weeds are considerably less. However, bug and disease problems are still major issues. As for being able to grow stuff year around that's a mixed blessing -- there's no real time off from gardening while on the other hand we don't spend much time preserving harvests.

[Texas Blues]

The 2012 beds look great!

I can only hope come next year my beds look as gorgeous as those.

Very well done!

[remy]

Excellent job!
Remy

[lakelady]

really great job, looks fabulous!

[meadowyck]

Jerry great job.

How do you start your seeds? Do you put them on a heat mat or just have them outside. I'm having the worst time adapting to growing in FL. Gosh move back north is starting to look mighty good.... not....

[jerryinfla]

Texas Blues, Remy, Antoniette and Jan - Thanks for the kind feedback. It took more time and energy than I want to admit but I have high hopes for bumper crops someday .

Originally Posted by meadowyck

How do you start your seeds? Do you put them on a heat mat or just have them outside. I'm having the worst time adapting to growing in FL. Gosh move back north is starting to look mighty good.... not....

Jan - In warm weather, like we have most of the time, I start seeds outside. During colder weather I start seeds in CD cake boxes that I put on top of my TV cable box -- it puts out all the bottom heat I need.