About Me

I live in Charlotte, NC smack dab in the middle of suburbia.  I have been gardening for about 10 years (if you can call what I did my first few years gardening).  I have made an effort to do it organically for the last 5 years. I am slowly but surely on the path to turn my yard into a micro farm.  My hope is that if I do it slowly enough my husband and neighbors won't realize what I am up to and they won't lodge a protest.

Like most addictions mine started innocently enough.  Tomatoes were my gateway vegetable, the one that got me started.  My first year in this house I bought 2 tomato transplants from a big box store, planted them in one of the worst spots in my yard (unamended red clay soil, close enough to a tree for root competition, only about 4 hours direct sunlight).  I wondered why I got 4 puny tomatoes that year!

Determined to do better I employed some common sense and moved the garden.  I dug up the sod in an 8'x8' area, bought 6 tomatoes, inherited good tomato cages from my father-in-law, and fed them non-organic tomato fertilizer (sorry, I was new and did not know better).  That year I got tomatoes!

The next year I discovered heirlooms at the farmer's market.  I was astonished that tomatoes came in colors other than red and there were hundreds of varieties to choose from.  I got a black, a pink and an orange tomato to supplement the ones I had gotten from the big box store.  When those heirlooms started to produce there was no turning back!

Since that year the garden has grown, both in size and what I grow.  We are now up to a 35'x35' garden, with an occasional plant thrown in a border.  Like I do every year I have already decided that 35'x35' is not enough room and we need to make it bigger next year.  I also grow a lot more than just tomatoes (see the What Am I Growing page).  Last year we also added some fruit trees and berry bushes.  Strawberries and raspberries are next on my wish list!

I read obsessively about ways to improve my gardening but I am by no means an expert.  I make mistakes. Sometimes my mistakes happen because I do not know what I am doing.  Other times, I know better, I just can't find the time to do the right thing.  With 2 kids, a husband, and a full-time job sometimes life gets in the way of gardening.  I always try to learn from my mistakes and hope that others can too.  I do appreciate helpful hints so please leave comments if you have some!

I started this blog for the same reason most people do.  I want to share my love of gardening and I want to meet others who love gardening as much as I do!  Please visit often and please share your comments.  Also, please feel free to let me know about your blog.

Here are some things you can expect on this blog:
  1. I will post regularly, usually 2-3 times a week.    
  2.  Weeds happen.  One thing you will find if you follow this blog is I HATE weeding, and don't do it nearly as much as I should.  As such, you will see an occasional weed or two (or more) in my photos.  I figure this is what real gardens look like.  This isn't Versailles after all.
  3. I am not an expert so I do make mistakes.  I will blog about them so others can learn.  One of the things I find frustrating is I read a lot about what works on the web.  I also want to read about what doesn't.  
  4. I am new to photography and my photos show it.  I am, however, trying to get better.
  5. I promise I will not monetize this blog.  You won't have to contend with ads or pop-ups.  This is about the joy of gardening, not making money.
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings.  Hope you will stay around to share the adventures!!

6 comments:

  1. Enjoyed reading your blog today! I am the same type of gardener here in central Colorado (elevation 7000') so I have different weather issues to deal with. My garden is 12' x 12' and we get too much produce for just the two of us. This year I planted beets and San Marzano tomatoes along with the usual lettuce, radishes, zuchinni and herbs. We had a mild winter so I was able to plant early and start seeds in my new greenhouse too. That really helps when the wind starts howling here! Thanks for your blog and the "no ads".
    Susan in Colorado

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You must be a great gardner to get such a bounty from a 12'x12' plot. I always wondered what it is like to garden where you are. As I read about the various pests that we get in the South I learned that a lot do not extend all the way to the West coast. I cannot imagine growing squash in a region where you did not count on getting squash vine borers!

      Delete
  2. Stumbled across your blog today from Daphne's Dandelion's...I'm your newest follower. I, too, live in suburbia and am slowly but surely turning more and more grass into garden =) I have to be all sneaky about it because my dear husband will rebel against me if I dig up too much lawn too quickly! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are we married to the same man? ;). I hope that if I do it a little at a time he won't notice anything has changed!

      Delete
  3. Thanks for visiting Grow it at Home today. I feel like I met my kindred spirit.... :) Slowly removing the grass and moving towards gardens. I too want to take it slow as my HOA and neighbors could cause me problems if they disapprove. I would hope they wouldn't. We have been sharing the garden with them and they all seem to be pleased. This summer we moved to the front yard. This is where I am the most concerned but so far so good. I tried to keep it decorative and pleasing to the neighbors. We are actually close in that I live in a neighboring state to yours, Tennessee. So neighbor, I look forward to reading more of your blog and hearing all about your journey to a garden life in suburbia.

    http://www.growitathome.wordpress.com
    Joelle

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like you are a few years ahead of me. I have not done much in the front yard yet except plant fruit trees and bushes. I have a fabulous sunny spot by the mailbox that I would love to put veggies in so that people passing by could help themselves to. I also know what you mean about the neighbors. I am not sure what they think of the whole gardening thing (though they do enjoy the produce).

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...