Sunday, October 12, 2014

Winter vegetable gardening begins.

Yesterday I took a trip to my favorite nursery in the Homestead FL; I was looking for seedlings to start my winter vegetable garden.  I come home with arugula, butterscotch lettuce, broccoli, eggplant, tomatoes and peppers.    The tomatoes and pepper are going in containers; in the next few weeks I will be adding more seedlings and sowing seeds as the temperatures get cooler.

Last year when I started these vegetable beds with construction blocks, I used the squares inside the blocks for planting, but soon found that they were not ideal for growing vegetables.  This year I planted a combination of bromeliads, succulents and drought resistant plants.  I like the way it looks.
















This is my garden work station; I call it the garden’s garage.  Like everyone’s garage it needs cleaning every couple of months.  The beach umbrella you see in the picture, I found in my neighbor’s garbage can, now it shelters me from the sun and at the same time it makes this corner of the garden standout.  





3 comments:

David The Good said...

That's a great setup. I'm always strewing tools around here and there and losing stuff. Now I'm thinking I need a neighbor to abandon an umbrella...

Also - I like the bromeliad/marigold/etc. planting in the cinderblocks. I have block beds and have also found they don't support vegetables well in the holes. I may have to get more creative with some other plants.

Mary Preston said...

Is it too late to make a winter vegetable garden? I really want to try! Your advices are great - very well explained and informative!

Anonymous said...

I use cinderblocks 2 high for my Vegetable raised beds. I find that carrots, green onions, winter savory, mint, chives, smaller to medium leaf lettuces, and leek do quite well in the holes. I think making them 2 high makes all the difference. I use potting soil mixed with mushroom compost and sandy loam.
Eloise in San Jose, CA