A while back I showed you how to build a small tiered vegetable & herb garden. Our garden has had plenty of time to grow and develop and I decided I would bring you an update. I have learned a few things from my first venture into urban farming.
The first thing I learned is that we planted many of the vegetables too close together. It seemed good when they were small little plants but once they took off they seemed to crowd each other out some. Another thing I learned is okra plants grow really tall! Our okra plant is nearly 8 feet tall right now and it is pumping out okra faster than we can eat it.
Here is a pictures of the okra plant:
Here is some fried okra, that was absolutely delicious!
Here is a picture of some of the harvested okra, habanero peppers and Tabasco peppers.
That brings me to another point. Okra should be harvested before it gets too big or it gets really hard. I learned this the hard way. I have also enjoyed trying to make hot sauce with the hot peppers.
Here is the second batch of my homemade hot sauce, it turned out pretty good. The first batch…not so much. Live and learn.
The main thing I learned is I should have done something for pest control. Whether I just went and got regular insecticide or made my own all natural repellent, I should have done something because the bugs ate up so much of the garden. They completely ruined the squash, the tomatoes, and the zucchini. I thought they had ruined the cucumbers as well but the cucumber plant has made a slow recovery and has produced 2 large cucumbers thus far.
Here is what the bugs did to some of the vegetable plants:
On the plus side, bugs seem not to like to eat herbs. None of the herbs were disturbed. We picked those poor 2 basil plants to death. We should have gotten 4 more basil plants as much as we use basil in our cooking.
The mint also did very well, too bad we hardly use mint in anything. I should get working on some Mojitos! 🙂
All in all, it has been a moderately successful garden and I look forward to doing it again next season using some of the lessons I learned this year to make my harvest even more bountiful!
Have any of you grown your own garden? What tips do you have?
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I did Okra one year that stuff grows like a weed, also learned the hard way on picking it before it gets to big! I had luck with my own home made insect repellant by buying a batch of habanero peppers and pureeing them into liquid and spraying all over the garden.
It does grow like a weed! I heard that habanero pepper spray works well. I’ll definitely have to try that next year! Thanks for the tip!
I learned the hard way about the bugs myself when I lived in Iowa but fortunately here in Arizona I haven’t had that problem. It’s just about planting time here and I love your tiered garden idea. I have my “hoard” of reclaimed wood I plan on using to do something similar if and when I’m feeling up to it. Your garden looks amazing especially the okra I’ll have to try growing some of that myself this year!
Much love,
Lysa xx