Well, I have decided to show you my Jaime Lee Curtis garden. Most garden photos show gorgeous, flawless gardens. Perfectly straight rows. Not a weed in sight. Healthy green foliage and perfectly shaped produce. I have now learned to spot some of the photoshopping that goes one (especially in garden magazines). Also, seems most people have more time to weed their gardens before they take a photo than I do (I do not begrudge them this, I envy them).
This is what my garden looks like now.
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| The upper left quadrant has solanaceous crops; the upper right has cucurbits (now jut squash and zucchini); lower right are legumes, and lower left is sweet potatoes. |
It is not pretty. It does not look like the headers on blogs or photos in magazines and catalogs. The plants are overgrown and the paths have disappeared. The zucchini has grown all the way to the neighbor's fence so we cannot mow around the garden. There are more than a few weeds. Also, lots of the plants are showing their age.
But...I love my little garden. It has produced so well this year. I feel bad that I have not done better by it but it has been so hot I spend as little time in it as possible. This is what a real garden looks like (especially if you work and have kids)! Maybe this photo will make someone else feel a little better about their garden.
I like how your garden looks and more importantly - it produces well! Mine is a jungle too and you can't see rows anymore and weeds are rampant. Maybe I'll find some time to do weeding but then life steps in and I just stick to harvesting.
ReplyDeleteI figure the weeding will happen when I pull everything for the fall garden in a month or so!
DeleteYou had me laughing right off. I remember that article! (I thought she looked great regardless.) Sister...THAT garden looks pretty freakin good. You want to see weeds? Come on over!
ReplyDeleteShe did look great, didn't she!
DeleteOh you are so encouraging! I DO have the time, being retired, but not necessarily the energy in this heat to keep up with the weeding. I haven't had the guts yet to post a lot of full shots of my garden, because believe me, it is every bit as weedy and jungle-like as yours, in fact, my guess is more so! Still, I love it and it is productive. It is a labor of love, just as yours is to you! If we were perfect, we'd have nothing to strive for!
ReplyDeleteYep, my little ugly garden feeds me and my family, which is why I love it.
DeleteLove this post. I used to follow this blogger who liked to keep it real. She would post a close up, showing just the beautiful thing, and then back out and show the messy floor, etc.
ReplyDeleteI am glad your garden is successful for you. That's the most important thing.
I wish I could get an aerial shot of my garden, but somehow the thoughts of a 73-year-old woman standing on her rooftop, camera in hand, is a bit scary! To me, straight rows are for the convenience of accessing the crops. I avoid them in most of my garden, preferring meandering paths that invite me to stroll and enjoy the beauty of vegetable gardening. I admit I'm a weed control freak though, which unfortunately doesn't carry over to my ornamental gardens, which are more weeds than ornamental!
ReplyDeleteMy hubbie is a real estate photographer so he actually has a pole he uses for the aerials!
DeleteYour garden looks awesome especially considering how much it has produced this year! My garden is a jungle right now. There's several paths that you can't even see much less walk down.
ReplyDeleteI hear you! What looks like 1 row of tomatoes in the photo is really two that have grown together!
Deletelol, it looks fine to me... i tend to generously crop my garden photos to avoid shots of the peeling siding on the house. The garden is the most appealing part of my place.
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