Let's See Your Garden Pics - 2025

QSis

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
NCT Patron
Today, I planted 7 tomatoes (need one more), a jalapeno and a mini orange sweet pepper. Still have parsley and dill to plant but my back has had it for today. Mini cucumbers, Ichiban eggplants, shishito peppers, wax beans, several sunflower varieties, five other herbs (still can't find marjoram), and potted flower plants have already been planted. All in containers.

Second harvest of French Breakfast radishes. They did much better this year than last.

Lee

P.S. I saw that Saliha and John have started their own garden threads for this year. If everyone would like to do that as well, that's fine.
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I have a really small yard, but make a lot of use of the areas where many would have grass or a bed of flowers.

In the front yard, I have a small area with slicing cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. To the side of the porch, I have pole beans, tomatoes, and two egg plant. In two large amazon boxes stashed behind a small bed, I have potatoes. My hanging baskets have strawberries, and there are pots of herbs on the front porch.

In the back yard, I just pulled my failed garlic and replanted some onions. The other half of that bed, which is raised, has beets. Along the wall that is at the back of my yard, I have okra coming up, more peppers, pickling cucumbers, and bush shelly beans. My last small bed are three kinds of melons being trellised and a winter squash.

I call my little yard "Notta-Acre Farms." In the spring, I plan to put in a few dwarf fruit trees, and planted a dwarf mulberry tree this year. The little orchard will be dubbed "Penny-Pincher Grove @ Notta-Acre Farms. If only my HOA would allow chickens. They have warred with me over the veggies, but they cannot seem to find a way to differentiate vegetable annuals from geraniums.

The house was built just before WWII, so I have a sign that is out of frame that reads, "Victory Garden: It's patriotic! It's thrifty." I hope it alleviated the HOA's concern that I was muddling the historical value of the neighborhood.

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Cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and herbs on the porch as well as wheat grass for the kitties.

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Pole beans, eggplant, and more tomatoes with potatoes in the cardboard boxes behind the raised bed. Hanging baskets, out of frame, have strawberries.

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I really wanted some potatoes to go with my beans that I had for dinner last weekend, so I dug up one of the potatoes that seemed to be dying back or limping along.

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Beets and freshly planted onions in the raised bed. Mulberry is half-way down the wall. Pickling cucumbers in the far corner with the sunflower. More peppers down the wall with okra seed behind them and bush beans in front.

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Watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew trellised. A winter squash in the front.

I have some rhubarb in the yard along with a small fig that I thought had died, but it seems to be growing this year. The fig is about a foot tall. I also have a single, lone blackberry cane that promises not to die this year. I also have a few "scrap pots where I am regrowing vegetables like celery, etc.

There you have it: Notta-Acre Farms!
 
Wow, that is so impressive and looks like a lot of work! I'm surprised that your HOA allows you to do all that, but good for you for prevailing!

Looks as if you are not troubled by pests eating your efforts. My little container garden looks like Alcatraz with chicken wire encircling most of my pots.

Lee
 
The HOA has written rules, but could not argue the difference between a marigold and a scarlet bean or okra. All are edible, annuals, and pretty. I believe as long as I do not let the fruits rot and attract pests or let it look scrappy, they really cannot differentiate based on the bylaws which clearly allows flower beds of annuals. I had a great time at the HOA meeting when they sent me a letter my first year growing vegetables. It did not help them that their master gardener in charge of the gardening and beautification committee sighed at the first picture of the okra flower and said, "Oh, lovely. Hibiscus." This was more than 14 years ago. They told me that they would get back to me with clarification, but never have.

I do live in the city. There is a fox that lives somewhere close by. I grow clover in the front yard for the bunnies. Now, bunnies are sacred animals to me. We have an understanding. As long as they eat clover, they are bunnies. But when they eat veggies, they are rabbits and rabbits belong in a stew pot. ;) So far, there have been no rabbits in the yard.

Sadly, we also have rats. There is a shopping center over the back wall, and rats will go after the garbage from the pizza place. Last year, the rat got my one cantaloupe before I did. It was very sad. I'd build the fox special living accommodations if it kept the yard rat free ALL of the time. To try to prevent this from happening again, I put in a raised bed and trellis for the melon. It's been a step by step endeavor. The back yard is pretty recent. In prior years, I had a huge tree that shaded the entire yard. When I lost the tree, and after the tears dried, I decided I could plant more things.

Please post photos of your container garden. I struggle to grow things in pots! Plus, I want to know what you are growing!

Thank you for your kind words.
 
I found a lavabo online and bought it. It allows me to wash my hands and rinse produce when away from a sink in the garden. When it arrived, the faucet was blocked, but I was able to get the grime and dirt out of the faucet. Now, it works! We put it on a trellis against the shed on top of the hill.

 
Does no one have items from their garden yet? Or garden updates?

My small garden yielded two tomatoes, two peppers, two cucumbers, and a small bouquet of beets today.

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Okay, Kathleen, I snapped a few pics of my container garden.

Ichiban eggplants, a pot of snapdragons, portulaca and a struggling mammoth sunflower, mini cucumbers (Party Time variety).

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Pot of mini sunflowers, small pots of chives and dill, hanging pot of calabrachoa, window box full of what I think are weeds, with a few Forget-Me-Nots.

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Patio plants. Left are herbs and a window box full of mini sunflowers, center are 7 tomato plants, 2 pots of Shishito peppers, flowers.

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Another view of patio pots. Mini sweet orange peppers on the far right.

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I have more flowers, 2 more tomatoes, a jalapeno, and a pot of yellow wax beans in Kathy's yard, two doors away. And a ton of garlic chives self-seeded in the ground.

Lee
 
Looking good! What hits your garden so hard that you need chicken wire? I may have to put some up if I grow in the back yard again.

I also grow party time cukes. The first time I grew them, they produced faster than I could eat them. The entire neighborhood was loving the surplus! Love them, but they are not doing so well for me this year. How are yours doing?

I really like your ideas for the containers!
 
Kathleen said:
Looking good! What hits your garden so hard that you need chicken wire? I may have to put some up if I grow in the back yard again.

I also grow party time cukes. The first time I grew them, they produced faster than I could eat them. The entire neighborhood was loving the surplus! Love them, but they are not doing so well for me this year. How are yours doing?

I really like your ideas for the containers!
Click to expand...

Woodchucks, racoons and squirrels. The first 20 years or so that I've lived here, no problem. But for the past 15 years, my garden has looked like Alcatraz due to furry pests. Annoys the hell out of me! Not only does it look unsightly, but it make everything much more difficult. LOL, no need to chicken wire the jalapeno plant - they sink their teeth in one and say, NOPE.

So far I've only gotten 2 Party Time cukes. A lot slower this second year.

Lee
 
You are having the same experience I am with the cukes. Last year, I could not keep up. I used new seed, so that is not the issue this year. No idea what their issues are.

Rats got my okra and bush beans along the back garden wall. Yep...rats. Here in the city the rats are as big as the cats - and the cats are afraid of the rats. Fortunately, the city is quick to lay down rat bait.
 
I got up at 6 AM this morning to attempt some heavy weeding along the back wall where the rats ate down my string beans, cucumbers, and okra. The weeds were bad as I did not have the heart to keep it up. I sifted through the pepper plants and found some of the okra and string beans are attempting to come back! Also, some of the cucumber vines were hiding in the weeds. So I did a basic weeding sifting through what I could. Some of the plants needed staking. Others needed to be encouraged to climb the trellis. My raised beds are doing well! I am so excited and trying not to be too hopeful as there are three melons on the vines. Two honeydew and one watermelon. A tiny third honeydew is on the vine but tiny tends to drop off. Also, there is at least one acorn squash nested within the squash leaves.

As the sun rose and started to climb, I took a delightful rest in my hammock.

A honeydew about the size of a softball.
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Peppers with cucumbers behind it. I still need to weed the smaller weeds.
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The dwarf mulberry has leafed back out. Some string beans in front of peppers, and some okra behind peppers. Some plants needed to be staked upright.
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Weeds, weeds, and more weeds....except in the raised beds. Beets and onions thriving okay.
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My hidden garden behind the Mountain Laurels.
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This is the backyard in front of the Mountain Laurels in the evening with patio lights on. When I moved here, the backyard was nothing but English ivy and sticker bushes climbing all over a bare hill.
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Kathleen said:
I got up at 6 AM this morning to attempt some heavy weeding along the back wall where the rats ate down my string beans, cucumbers, and okra. The weeds were bad as I did not have the heart to keep it up. I sifted through the pepper plants and found some of the okra and string beans are attempting to come back! Also, some of the cucumber vines were hiding in the weeds. So I did a basic weeding sifting through what I could. Some of the plants needed staking. Others needed to be encouraged to climb the trellis. My raised beds are doing well! I am so excited and trying not to be too hopeful as there are three melons on the vines. Two honeydew and one watermelon. A tiny third honeydew is on the vine but tiny tends to drop off. Also, there is at least one acorn squash nested within the squash leaves.

As the sun rose and started to climb, I took a delightful rest in my hammock.

A honeydew about the size of a softball.
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Peppers with cucumbers behind it. I still need to weed the smaller weeds.
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The dwarf mulberry has leafed back out. Some string beans in front of peppers, and some okra behind peppers. Some plants needed to be staked upright.
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Weeds, weeds, and more weeds....except in the raised beds. Beets and onions thriving okay.
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My hidden garden behind the Mountain Laurels.
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This is the backyard in front of the Mountain Laurels in the evening with patio lights on. When I moved here, the backyard was nothing but English ivy and sticker bushes climbing all over a bare hill.
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Click to expand...

What a lovely space!

Lee
 
This is the 1st year after 20. I didn't plant.
I moved out of my rental, in the San Francisco Bay area.
For a Brand New home here in Joplin MO. on 3/4 acre.
I have a huge backyard, but I have been busy with all
the things, moving to another state, and starting over.
Saliha, Kathleen, & Lee, Your Gardens are Wonderful.
I'm looking forward to next year.
 
@QSis Thank you so much. It's been a work in progress for more than 15 years. (I've lived here for more than 30.) When I bought the house, it was a steep hill covered with poison and English ivies and sticker bushes.

@dansdiamond If I can offer a tiny bit of advice, spend time now to block out how you want everything to look down the road. Garden beds, orchard, flowers, herbs, etc. Spend time now to analyze sunlight, etc. I still do not have an asparagus bed because I neglected to put in some serious homework. My second bit of advice is that you can plant garlic this fall for spring...a nice way to kick-start your plans. :flowers: I cannot wait to see how your garden progresses.
 
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