"gardenless" garden tour

I just love this time of year, let's go poke around outside!  It seems that every time I step outside I notice new growth in the garden!  ...what do you think of the crazy fish railing?!! lol

::  door step salad bar!  ::

This year I decided to forgo buying any flowers and plant as many containers with edibles as I could!

I decided to try spinach and lettuce in our pots at the front door as it only gets a bit of morning sun.  I'm pleasantly surprised with the results!  The spinach is called "Perpetual spinach", it keeps producing more leaves as you pick the larger ones.  It's our favourite variety and we heard that in our climate there is a chance that it will overwinter!  It came from our local organic nursery in a small pack full of tiny seedlings for about $2.49.  I gently separated and transplanted them into containers.  The last 24 I put into the sectioned tray so I have more seedlings to plant throughout the season!  The lettuce is called "Outredgeous" and is doing very well as well.  I chose it for a bit of colour! 

::  bed prepared for cukes and beans  ::

At the bottom of the stairs we have our only patch of actual soil to grow in!  I can't wait to show you the after photos in a month or so!  Even though it also only gets morning sun we are planting english and pickling cucumbers and green bush beans in this space!  I can't wait to taste a fresh picked cuke again!  We train the cucumbers up garden twine tied to the overhead rafters.

::  tomatoes in containers  ::

It looks like the tomatoes are going to be fabulous this year!  We started them from seed indoors on March 20th and we are really excited about how healthy they are!  The stalks are thick, good leaf colour and they are flowering and/or starting to produce li'l tomatoes!  We planted them in pure sea soil and have been hand watering them so not to let them dry out.  The saucers are crucial in this location as it gets full sun most of the day.

This year we are growing:
~ "Bonnie Best" - vine, red slicing, sweet medium sized, strong plants
~ "Taxi" - bush, yellow slicing, super sweet medium sized, high yield
~ "Gold Nugget" - bush, yellow cherry, super sweet, very high yield until October!
~ "Tumbler" - hanging basket, red cherry, doesn't like to bake in the sun
~ "La Roma" - bush, medium sized romas, good for drying and in sandwiches
~ "Gardeners Delight" - vine, red cherry, very high yield, sweet

::  "mystery tomatoes" in hanging basket  ::

Every year during transplanting we always seem to end up with an assortment of "mystery tomatoes".  This year my husband planted them in hanging baskets.  I'm not sure what we'll end up with but they seem happy so far!  I can't imagine being able to pick a slicing tomato and a roma from one hanging basket?!!?  We'll see....

::  this bucket of oregano has moved around with us for 11 years!  ::

::  3 one gallon pots of basil hidden in a wood box found on the side of the road!  ::

::  mint needs to be kept in a container unless you want it EVERYWHERE!  ::

 Let's walk across the driveway over to the "fruit patch".  In this photo you can see our latest addition - a "Stanley" prune plum!  It should produce fruit next year, we're very excited!  To the left of Stanley are our pretty sad looking everbearing strawberries.  They always look rather pitiful this time of year, hopefully they'll pick up in a few weeks!  Next to them is another pot of red lettuce and a pot of spinach.  Beside them are the June bearing strawberries which are doing very well!  We transplanted them last Autumn and there are lots of berries on the plants.

Along the fence are some of the blueberry bushes.  Of all the plants we own I look forward to one day getting these guys planted in the ground the most.  They could be so much bigger if they weren't in pots but they still produce fruit throughout the season (we have early, mid and late varieties) and are all healthy!  Oh and there's one elderflower bush in there too, as my husband is from Britain, it's a family tradition to have one of these plants!

 
Here's looking up the opposite direction where you can see the black currant, the apple trees, the new triple crown blackberry and the Butterfly Bush that my daughter so lovingly picked out for her Dad's Birthday last weekend! (my son and I chose the plum!)

:: June bearing strawberries transplant last Autumn  ::

::  I'm really impressed with the size of them  ::

::  lots of berries on the blueberries this year!  Another month before they'll be ready for picking  ::

Well thanks for joining the tour!  I'll be sure to let you know when everything is in full swing!

If you are trying your hand at gardening this year, please share your stories and links!
Happy Gardening!
~ joey ~