No weeding, no bending, no tilling, no digging.
Instead I water when needed, add some food when the plants show signs of needing a boost and this is what happened only 4 weeks after the first picture:
A few other things I'm learning to do along the way:
Don't overdo the nitrogen - if there's too much pumpkins won't form
Sometimes you need to help out in the pollination department (I brush pollen from one plant to the other with a dry paintbrush)
Prune the tomatoes (seen on right) so they don't get so wild and the plant will put more energy into tomato production instead of all those extra branches
Buy a different kind of lettuce - one that doesn't get bitter in hot weather. (That's the lettuce we stopped picking on the left because it tastes TERRIBLE)
Plant way more peas and radishes.
What have YOU learned about gardening this year?
I've seen someone else doing this in blogland. It sounds like such a neat idea. I can't believe it works!
ReplyDeleteWe found out that we need to feed sooner and throughout the summer. Our tomoatoes didn't really take off and the fruit is really tiny.
ReplyDeletePotatoes are doing well though.
I have learned we need to have a fence around our garden from the day we start the seeds. We have a terrible, but cute- rabbit problem in our neighborhood. Love your straw bale garden. I've enjoyed reading your approach and now Jennifer's version. Great job!
ReplyDeleteWow that is amazing! Great job! :)
ReplyDeleteWe've learned that we've put WAYYYYY too man vine(y) veggies in this year. We're afraid they are going to overtake our whole backyard. LOL!
ReplyDeleteYour lettuce tastes bad because it has already bolted. You have a very short time frame (5-7 days at most) to eat lettuce once the heart forms. After that it is horrible. Just pull it, compost it and replant some seeds :)
ReplyDeleteI have learned that earwigs and vegetable gardens in straw aren't a good combination. Now it's too hot to plant anything else. Oh well, there's always next year.
ReplyDelete