#Small Space Gardens

[zombolouge]

Thought I'd share a pic of how my balcony garden is doing

The stand has a few plants that I don't know what they are bc they were just given to me, although top left is jasmine! There's also grape hyacinth, snapdragon, and daffodils in the hanging planter. Some violets and I think pansies down in the lower left, too.

I'm most excited about the big pots! A dwarf sweetheart cherry tree with a fuschia vine starter, then a blackberry and strawberry plant sharing a pot with some marigolds, and lastly a blueberry bush with a salvia and marigold for friendship.

I'm SO hyped to have all these berries. Not sure if they will fruit this summer (the tree def won't she's too new) but I'm pleased that they're all getting bigger and flourishing.

Also my lil cherry tree gave me a handful of flowers. I've been SO happy watching it grow. Here's a before pic from when I first brought it home:

And today:

And the flowers:

Sorry y'all I'm a plant nerd now so I might just have to do an excited yell abt them from time to time!

[sevenlittledwarfs]

Contemporary Deck

Example of a mid-sized trendy backyard deck container garden design with no cover

[sinuousmag]

Contemporary Deck Example of a mid-sized trendy backyard deck container garden design with no cover

[evergentleandkind]

Front Yard in Chicago Summertime landscaping ideas for a medium-sized traditional front yard with partial sun.

[enoshimakuro]

Landscape Retaining Walls This is an illustration of a mid-sized craftsman front yard with stone landscaping in the springtime.

[the-home]

[martha-anne]

Things are starting to happen in the garden

Seedlings! Tulips! Buds bursting!

The fruit bushes I planted over winter are showing signs of life!

I planted these peas outside last week. It's too early, but they were desperate to LIVE and to CLIMB. I could not give them the life they wanted indoors. It snowed pretty much immediately, and was frosty for several days. And yet, the peas remain unbothered and flourishing. 

I had a 100% germination rate with these guys too. The variety is Lord Leicester if anybody is interested.

I've stacked up a load of old twigs and prunings which were lying around to make a bit of a habitat wall area. I'm hoping this will one day give frogs a safe passage to the pond. In the shorter term, I'm wondering if any climbing plants might like to use it as a support. Does anybody have experience with this?

This is the inside of the compost bin. I just like to look at it :)

[cultofcreatures]

i see you in my dreams

[thestudentfarmer]

Hey all,

Quick little garden pic update :)

Won't be everything, just a lil one :)

Sweetbpotatoes have started perking back up, very excited for some more greens soon! :D

The oregano, I've been letting it go to flower so it hopefully will self seed a bit of this corner. I don't mind if it goes hogwild as I hot plenty of use for it :) even if for nothing more than chicken feed and pollinator attractor.

The thyme. I pulled a peice that has rooted and didn't expect it, so I may come through and pull a little bit to transplant elsewhere for a secondary patch

The sunchoke and green onion bed. The green onions were part of a regrow try that's been left to go sort of on its own.

We likely wont eat any sunchoke this year, unless they produce extra well. I want to spread out a few raised bed patches for some edible landscaping, just hope the parrots don't mistake them for regular sunflowers.

The green onions went to seed and it looks like already dropped them or the wild birds ate them (I really need to get on those lil seed bags)

A suprise melon, not sure if it's watermelon, cantaloupe or honeydew though as I threw all 3 out into the "patch" zone.

Dugbit up as I was intending to use it for a short time for chick growout pen.

It was so they could raze the ground of any potential grass and afterwords when time to go to the adult coop I could toss the paper, cardboard and some amendments down on top before the manure (slow soil build up)

Instead I currently have a hole in the back 😅 while I wait for more composted manure to come in.

That's it for today's quick post :)

🌱Happy homesteading and farming 🌱

July 10 2024

[ghost-shepherdess]

dye flowers ready to be dried 💛

[enigmaticagentalice]

dahlia and roses from my garden

[resistancekitty]

#container gardening #small space gardening #dwarf vegetable plants #vertical gardening #self sufficiency #self sufficient living

[toadstoolgardens]

Gardening in Raised Beds On Pavement

Growing in raised beds on top of pavement is an excellent strategy if you have limited growing space. Let's learn how to make the most of that concrete or asphalt!

Build Tall Beds

Crops need room to send roots down into the soil. Providing plenty of room to grow means your crops have a strong foundation, hold moisture longer, and can access more nutrients in the soil through deeper roots. Raised beds on pavement should be a minimum of 24 inches tall and ideally 32 inches tall! Taller is always better, especially if you live somewhere with hot and/or dry summers.

Filling Your Raised Beds

When you build raised beds on the ground, your crops have access to the soil underneath for draining excess water from above and wicking water up from below. Building on pavement takes this away, so how we fill the beds really matters!

Bottom Layer: Gravel

Fill the bottom of your raised beds with about 6 inches of gravel. This helps fight erosion, helps with drainage, and keeps your crop's roots from coming into contact with the pavement.

Middle Layer: Decomposing Wood

I highly recommend the hugelkultur method. A hugelkultur, or "mound culture" in German, is a raised bed with a base of decomposing wood. Rotting wood encourages fungal networks, holds moisture, and fills the space pretty cheaply. Get some logs, sticks, and other dead wood pieces and make a layer on top of your gravel.

Top Layers: Loose, Rich Growing Medium

There's lots of options for filling this space, but the goal is high-quality organic matter. Avoid bags of potting soil, as these aren't living soil. Living soil self-renews and keeps providing a nutrient rich environment. Potting soil will eventually dry out and lose nutrients. Instead gather things like:

Compost (homemade or purchased)

Coffee grounds (many coffee shops are happy to give out used grounds for free)

Living soil (from your yard or garden, even just a few shovels full will likely contain fungal networks and earthworms)

Grass clippings (not sprayed with anything!!)

Kitchen scraps (egg shells, fruits, veggies)

Leaf mold (leaves that have aged for two years)

Livestock manure

Shredded office paper

Worm casings

Alternate layers of whichever of these materials you're able to get and make a big raised bed lasagna. Save your compost for the top lasagna layer. Then top the whole bed off with mulch! Mulch helps hold water and keeps weeds at bay.

The Best time to Build Raised Beds is in the Fall

You can build beds any time, but building in the fall gives your bed contents time to settle and break down over the winter. Your lasagna layers need time to break down into finished soil, which crops generally prefer. Then just add some more organic matter on top in the spring before planting.

What To Plant

Here's some crop suggestions to go easy on your garden in the first year. After the first year though the sky is the limit!

Beets

Herbs

Leafy greens

Legumes

Onions

Maintaining Raised Beds on Pavement

Irrigate: Even with your fabulous organic material lasagna, your raised bed on pavement will still dry out. Prepare to water regularly, especially in the seed and seedling phase. After your crops get established a deep weekly watering should be enough unless it's extremely hot/dry.

Fertilize: During the summer, add some liquid fertilizer every couple of weeks (during your watering sesh) to push nutrients down into the soil. Some great liquid fertilizer options are comfrey tea, fish fertilizer, and worm tea.

Soil Renewal: Every fall top your beds off with some new organic matter. Over time your raised beds will decompose and sink, so fill those babies back up so they're ready for next spring! And don't forget to mulch!

Aerate: As your layers decompose you'll want to do some gentle aerating with a digging fork to keep the soil loose and crumbly.

Use Cover Crops: Cover crops help enrich the soil and keep it from drying out.

Summer cover crops: Buckwheat, cow peas, millet

Winter cover crops: Daikon radish, oats, winter rye

Happy growing!!

Source

[honeycombhank]

8/3/23

I did it! finding materials with a very low budget took some time and picking out the plants and then deciding how I was going to display them was very satisfying in the end and worth every penny.

The rocks in the pots/ wire baskets and pictured here in the metal buckets- are ones I have collected from various hikes and beach trips, I am so excited to start using them in a creative manner around the garden!

I feel I am actually getting going on this peaceful setting and place of beauty. I want to create something unique and special in this small space we have.

So one goal has been brutally crushed already this month! Plants are hung on the fence and I am smiling!! Yay.

[martha-anne]

Poached-egg Pollinator Paradise

There is a patch of poached-egg flowers growing next to my pond. Pollinating insects love it, and I love to watch them. Here are a few of this weekend's visitors.

??

Mint moth

??

Honeybee

Rose chafer beetle

Ashy mining bee

If you are familiar with bugs 1 and 3, please let me know their names! And grow this plant if you can!