OUR GARDEN

My fiancé and I live in a typical neighborhood near downtown Wakefield.  We live in a third floor apartment which looks out over a relatively small backyard that gets a decent amount of sunlight throughout the day.  Each of us has gardened, or been involved in gardening since childhood.  There is a picture of me somewhere, following my dad around with my toy wheelbarrow while he used the real one to bring new soil to a garden.  To be clear, my small toy wheelbarrow also had soil in it because my parents weren’t passing up some free labor, and teaching has always been a part of their parenting. So, getting back to Wakefield, we asked our landlord about installing a 4ft x 8ft raised bed.  As it turns out, he already had one that he wasn’t using, so he delivered it in pieces, and we (with my new power screw driver!) put it together.

Soon after my dad, recently turned landscaper, brought us 2 cubic yards of soil.  Of course, he drove off and left us with a wheelbarrow (full sized) and some shovels to play with.  A few hours later we were ready to plant our garden!  Actually, we had to wait a few weeks because it was still way too cold to plant most things.

We did start early with some brussels sprouts, broccoli and lettuce, all pre-started plantings that we got from a local farm stand.  These are all cold weather crops that can take the cooler days and colder nights.  Most things survived, and we had full heads of broccoli a few weeks later.  We ate fresh salads all spring and the brussells sprouts?  Well, they take a bit longer… we still have not harvested them almost 4 months later.

Once the weather got warmer, we planted some seeds in the bed, and started more indoors.  The indoor starts were placed on a tray table which got moved from window to window during the day to follow the sun. 

We had a few setbacks which included beetles and some blossom end rot, but otherwise, we have a fairly successful backyard garden!  Here is a list of what we are growing:

Zucchini, Summer Squash, Carrots, Green beans, Purple beans, Roma Tomatoes, Golden Cherry, tomatoes, Lettuce, Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, Asparagus, Moon Flowers, Peppers, Basil, Cucumbers, Pansies, Gladiolus Flowers, Parsley, Oregano, Lemon Thyme, Thyme, Sage, Portulaca (flower), Chives, Cana (flower), Day lilies  (flower), Raddish, Dahlia (flower)

-Nathan