Deck Garden Journal

in #hive-1406354 months ago

Hi fellow Hiveians,

Today I wanted to share a few photos of the deck garden that we've got this year!

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Deck Garden Journal

Gardening is going to be one of the most important ways that we can save a few dollars, and also improve the health and quality of the food that we have in our homes even if it's just a few bits of food during the day.

Last year we didn't end up doing a garden on our deck, though we did have a few herb plants, so maybe that counts? At any rate though, we wanted to make sure that we took care of it this year and put a small garden together! We are going to expand it a little bit this weekend with another couple plants but definitely enjoying the progress that we've made so far!

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With the garden that we've got, we have mostly tomato plants, which are a staple food in the summer for us, and some herbs. We also tried our hand at some peppers this year, because we also frequently eat them in our salads and for snacks at night for the little man. We may add some cucumbers if we can find ones that are already started, but that is questionable at the moment. A lot of the plants that are already grown are tomatoes and herbs, which is okay with us.

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Since we signed up for the CSA program years ago, we certainly don't rely as heavily on buying food every week but we do get some things as we need them. With getting a small garden going, we are trying to offset the things that we can! I think next year we are going to increase this a little bit earlier, but we've made some good progress as it is.

I think the main challenge for us and the garden is that we don't have anyone to water the plants for us when we are away for a day or two. We do like to take day trips when we can, and this means we water the plants in the morning and hope for the best when we get home. If we go away for 2 days then often the plants are completely dead when we get home lol. We could ask one of our neighbors to do it.. but the challenge with that is we don't have anyone we really want to give a key to our place to. Yeah it may sound silly but in the days we live in, you never know sadly.

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This means that the garden we have is on the smaller side at least but we are enjoying what we are growing! The cherry tomatoes are a favorite with the little man, he has been watching them grow nicely over the past few weeks and they've gotten to the point where they can finally be harvested one or two at a time every day. This is a great thing, because he LOVES cherry tomatoes. These are the best as well because they are allowed to fully ripen before being picked! So many of the foods at the grocery store are picked very immature because they have to be shipped for such a distance sadly.

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With the tomato plants that we've got on the deck, letting them grow to their fullest extent possible before going bad has been such a great improvement! The little man absolutely loves the tomatoes and comments at how delicious and full of flavor they are every time he eats one. It's one of those things that everyone can enjoy, the fruits and delicious nature of the labor of love that is gardening. I know that when we eventually get a house, we will definitely be doing a garden and a bigger one than we've got now. I would love to put in a dome garden, the way someone the other day has shared. That gives us the ability to start the dome garden later in the year and let it grow into the autumn and winter for fresh foods. I think this combination of regular outdoor and dome gardening would be a wonderful way to get some good food sources for us!

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A beautiful view of the precious American flag is also important and warranted. Gardens in years past, especially during the world wars and depression were called Freedom Gardens because they supplied a lot of the food that the people needed without having to go to a store, and allowed more food to be directed towards the soldiers which is a good thing for them. War itself is questionable, because regular people are fighting against two groups at the top vying for control but that is a topic for a different discussion..

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What about you, do you have a garden? If not, would you be interested in growing even a few small things like herbs? Let me know in the comments!

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-CmplXty. Real human written content, never AI. All pictures are mine unless otherwise stated

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I think the US plants a lot of tomatoes if I'm not wrong because they consume a lot of it?
Come to think of it, what camera do you use for your pictures? The bokeh effects are unimaginable

Haha yeah we love our tomatoes! Among other things for sure.

These were shot with my DSLR. Canon EOS 9000D I believe. The lens is 24-105. I don’t get to use it often but I make sure to bring it out when I can, and felt these were a great chance :D I love how the American flag picture came out!

I don’t have a garden but I wish to have some when I have a house someday
There is no space here for now

Yeah space is an issue for sure!

I don't have a garden but on my small balcony, I grow aromatic herbs. Some time ago, I had a tomato plant and the tomatoes that I managed to harvest were the tastiest I have ever eaten in my life, unfortunately, it was hit by a pest and dried up.
Good luck with your garden!

That's wonderful I'm glad you enjoyed the tomatoes! They do taste wonderful!

If I could recommend, start with cherry tomatoes! They are a LOT easier than big ones and they taste absolutely phenomenal when picked fresh and ripe!

With tomatoes you have to get a good fertilizer, and supplement them with calcium. They love calcium!

I don't have a garden and I have always dreamed of having one.
I have also dreamed of having dogs and quite recently I learned how hard it may be in having those two dreams mix😂😂😂

A garden is a lot easier to take care of than a dog lol but animals are a great benefit as well!

I think I'll eventually have a garden, it's part of my plans. For now, I mostly help out in other people's garden, sowing and weeding. It can be a really grounding experience just to be at a garden doing work with Nature.

Oh for sure man! It's also really healthy for you to be putting your hands and body parts on the dirt. It's actually quite literally grounding! Discharging your electrical energy into the earth is really healthy for us!

We have and do pretty much the same as you do. We have had potted tomato plants for years although hubby is ready to give up on them. They seem to be more and more finnicky with watering and getting brown and then the disease that makes the leaves all yuckie. But the fruits are so yummie 😊. Rosemary and basil are the other staples we have and since an impulse buy three or four years ago we also grow different chili peppers in pots - hm, might make a post about those. They are fun to watch grow and then turn from green to red. Happy growing!

That's great! We didn’t do hot peppers but might give that a try next year, we are trying to ease into it again. We definitely love tomatoes but yes it’s certainly tricky to get them healthy. We found a good organic fertilizer mix that they seem to enjoy. The big thing with tomatoes is they need calcium apparently! When we hard boil eggs, we save the water from it and let it cool and dump it on the plants, helps keep them happy. I also fertilize them every 2-3 weeks with a smaller amount than is recommended instead of doing it once a month. Seems to work well.

One of the things I recently started doing that seems logical but I didn’t know if it would do anything - I don’t just water the dirt and roots, I actually water the leaves too! We got an electric pump container and I use the spray nozzle on it and spray the roots but also all of the leaves. We had one tomato plant that was going yellow on the leaves quite a bit but since I started spraying all the leaves with water as well, not just the roots, it’s come back to life! Don’t know if your husband is doing that or not but it’s awesome!