Veggie Tales

Sunday I planted veggies. Hubby and I are trying a new approach that I'm just a wee bit excited about. First, let me tell you the soil in our yard leaves a LOT to be desired. So, with this in mind we are trying out the "5-gallon bucket method". This method apparently has proven quite successful for many as I have found in my Internet research. Ideally, I would like a small garden with some of my favorite veggies (squash, cucumbers, okra, tomatoes, peppers...maybe even a few beans or peas) but given our limited amount of space and the crummy dirt, I have decided to go with this new method. Well...new to me. We have 6 buckets that we are going to try. Saturday, we purchased 2 jalapenos, 2 Big Boy tomatoes, 1 Roma Tomato and 1 Cherry Tomato plants. Brian drilled holes in the bottom of the bucket for drainage. In addition we placed 2 or 3 inches of washed river rock in the bottom for better drainage. Then...the planting began. (insert dramatic music ha) I can't wait. I am planning on a bountiful harvest for which I have many ideas. The jalapenos I plan to smoke for chipotles. The tomatoes I will use for several things and hopefully there will be enough to make a salsa. I can use the jalapenos for that purpose also. After an extensive Internet research, I decided to plant both jalapenos in the same bucket. The 'experts' say that planting 2 to 3 plants together produces far better results. This decision also left a bucket open to use for pumpkin seeds I purchased for Zane to plant. He has visions of a successful roadside pumpkin stand because of the high yield....Go Zane :-) The final step was buying a utility cart to put the buckets on. This allows our plants to be mobile which is beneficial in a couple of different ways. One, we can control the amount of light the plants receive much better and secondly, we don't have to worry about the buckets killing the grass beneath them. Trust me, this is all trial and error, Anyway, if this works well this year, we may add more next Spring and possibly a raised bed type of garden. Regardless of the outcome, I truly love to dig and get my hands dirty. I'll keep everyone updated on the progress. Wish me luck......

xxoo

Lisa