Veggies & Herbs

Tom really wanted to do a large garden this year. I am hesitant. I know how much time I have already spent in my flower beds improving and maintaining them. It's been a lot of work. I can't imagine adding in a large vegetable garden. In addition, we are very undecided as to where in our yard we would put such a garden.

Our neighbor offered a solution.

She gave us an old 55 gallon barrel.

We cut it in half. Drilled holes in the bottom for drainage. Built a base with 2 by fours. Lined them with cocoa liner (the garden center was sold out of the cheaper black landscaping material). Then layered cow manure, miracle grow garden soil, and top soil.


Here are the results:

top row: bell peppers
bottom row: broccoli and cauliflower

top row: brussel sprouts
bottom row: zucchini and summer squash

round planter is patio cucumbers
left square planter is jalapeno peppers
right square planter is roma tomato

 I also planted my herbs.

oregano, sweet basil, dill, cilantro, thyme

I am excited to see how this turns out! Maybe next year, we will put in a larger garden. Or maybe we will find that this offers enough of the experience to harvest a few veggies ourselves.

Note: the edges are a little sharp on the barrels. Tom has an idea to cut a slit in a hose and slip that over the edges. We haven't done this yet. But, I am anticipating that we will need to especially on the barrel with the squashes. I don't want to get cut and I don't want the edges to damage the plants as they grow and vine out.