A Smaller Garden

[digitS']

It is a new experience for me. There have been a few years when I haven't had one square foot of garden. Probably more often, I have had a little more cool and comfortable green lawngrass to walk on and got busy to but in some garden beds for flowers and veggies. More years than both of those, I have finagled ways to have more ground available than I really needed to grow plants, taking pleasure in those abundant square feet.

Beginning in 2024, our garden shrunk to what I understand to be of average, familly-size. It is somewhat disconcerting to not be able to grow an over abundance of whatever ... I am still adjusting because the previous years with this average garden size was back in the early 90's!

I think that we will be okay. I'm unwilling to venture farther afield these days unlike when those opportunities presented themselves in the past. I have long imagined a home environment where everything that I wanted for the table was right down the backsteps — all there! Truth be known, i became dang tired of driving the miles to tend distant gardens no matter how much joy I experienced while I was there .

@Nyboy took pleasure in knowing his neighbor and client Martha Stewart. Certainly, her television shows and magazine/cookbooks have inspired millions. Here is something that I read this morning that fits well with the idea of the average, home garden. There is plenty of  room for us to put our own preferences in play but the pleasant concepts covered are valuable ones.

19 Vegetable Garden Ideas for a Productive Harvest in Any Size Yard

Have you ever wanted to grow your own produce at home? These vegetable garden ideas will inspire you to do just that.

www.marthastewart.com

 

[flowerbug]

i plant more vegetable gardens because they are easier and more enjoyable for me to take care of than the surrounding lawn. i have much less to mow this season and the plan is to continue that trend either until i'm dead or i go someplace else.

i do like more diversity though so what i would like to do is replant all the grass with creeping thymes and other wildflowers and things i do like much more than grasses. and then i can poke beans in too to grow wherever. rabbits, deer, etc are still not excluded so these plantings are all likely to be grazed from time to time. no clovers until fences are put up - no idea when that might happen... last year was pretty good, no major deer predation in the exterior bean patches, some groundhog feeding but not so much that it ruined things. i had more predation from the groundhogs inside the fenced gardens last year but still had a harvest.

if i can get a fence up then i can think about some fruit bushes like blueberries, but that becomes a lot more work because i'd have to bring in enough organic matter that they'd be happy. so maybe not going to happen after all... we'll see.

 

[digitS']

The author suggests too many plants other than veggies for a small vegetable garden, to my way of thinking .

BTW, Ag research in Florida, that I read about a few years ago, determined that African marigolds are not soil nematode deterrents but French marigolds are and suitable as a crop for soil improvement.

Your creeping thyme is there among the suggested ground covers, @flowerbug .

! Stinging nettle! Okay, I have a couple of those for use as compost tea and as an aphid deterrent on cabbage, especially. In a way, for this ongoing experiment, I am lucky to have a friend who is convinced of their value and has enough plants that I have plenty of tea beyond what is provided by the 2 plants in this yard. I watch mine carefully so as not to allow them to flower and spread. They are seriously difficult to weed around without heavy gloves if there is any chance that I might touch them.

 

[ducks4you]

I would like to put my two cents in, NOT to feed your big garden bad habit!!
If you have any vining plant seeds kicking around, plant them this year to help with weeds.
Beans are great--If I put my sweet potatoes out at the right time, then will vine and suppress weeds.
I had really intended to plant THEM in 2024 in one of my rubbermaid water tanks, and the smaller pot will NOT hold them.
In 2023 I wanted to de-weed the south part of my big garden. In July I direct planted squashes, and a few zucchini and pumpkins grew for me. They sprawled and I actually got fruit with NO extra effort.
I will be planting pumpkin seeds along the south fence of my north pasture around the 4th of July this year. They Will grow, they Will sprawl, and hopefully help me fight burdock there.
Just some thoughts, bc I know that when we "retrench" our gardens, sometimes we miss some of the plants that we used to grow.
ALL of these thoughts are plant and forget about them--no babysitting. then get some harvesting...when you get around to it.
I Know that a smaller garden means you want less garden work, which is thoughtful And honorable!