Garden Challenge Week!
This my entry into the #greenestthumb Challenge where this week ill show how keep my plants growing healthy.
First off being a just casual gardener, I set out only to have fun with my backyard.
When i started almost a year ago now the backyard was barren, clay and rocks, a old a prehistoric lake bed. Lots of fossles laying around. Not the greatest for plants in the ground.
So to start things off i bought all my soil and did everythingabove ground. Starting with just pots and bags of soil it began. Over the months i added a greenhouse, and then raised beds.
At the raised bed point daily watering became a chore and if was not home and the plants did not get watered some times they would suffer.
So i bought a automatic water system that mists every morning and waters the yard.
Clearly the water mellons have grown out from unplanned area, same with many other plants.
By not havinf expectations i have let most everything grow while just picking the fuit and old leaves.
I planted flowers to bring pollinators, and for winter time i have broccoli, cabbage, and lettuce i just plannted.
that ocra stalk is just huge!!
water mellons 
This is a massive Tabasco plant 
My big sweet potato bush!!
I just love watching everythinf grow!! 
Thanks for joining the #greenestthumb contest!
That is a beautiful garden, and I love how it's "wild" and just sprouts up in places all over the yard. Very well done for land that started barren and dry.
Yeah what have found to be even more fun recently, has been tomatillos popping up everywhere. Why? Well i faught some mice/rats for the past months eating my fruits. Well them scattering it everywhere has started plants in some of the funnest places!
Like here i have tomatillo and heirloom growing next to each other through the cracks of the rocks!
Behind my AC unit here's a tomato plant and I believe an avocado tree growing
You'll want to move that Avocado, she needs about 6 feet of radius for the root base (12 foot diameter circle) or she'll cause cracks in your foundation.
I love tomatillo salsas, it's pretty cool that the mice and rats inadvertently helped out with planting. They're not all bad if you can control them :)
Well those mice were rampant. I lost 100s of tomatillos, 20+ herlomes, 6+ watermellons, some peppers. And vines they chomped through.
I finally had to posion them with bait. It was so bad they would scatter when i would go out back. Lol
Now, you inspired me to write a post about a non-poison method to catch rats and mice. Great garden!!! I like wild gardens too.
Man i tried so many traps, glue, ect. They have a whole niwghboorhood issue.
I think my best defence right now will be organising the garden in such a way that will not premote them.
Being so bushy they have so much cover.
Even if i catch/kill in anouther way other than posion im afried it will be constanct issue in this part of the area.
Being a urban area we have a lot of fields that then become built up and it displaces a lot of mice and other animals too, Into the neighborhood.
WE are challenged that way as well. Only with rats - not mice. The big problem with poison is that the natural predators will eat the dead mice full of poison and get poisoned as well.
You know that is said to be issue with posions but I have two cats that do actively kill mice daily, eat bunnies ect. And they avoid the dead mice, as well as any other animals I have seen around. I'm not saying its ideal, I'm just giving more credit to predators knowing that mice is poisoned.
Im not sure what else to really try to catch them in traps or what is the best trap to use.
That is also "Okra" in the Filipino language! :)
Thats a beautiful garden! I could never grow tomatoes. They always keep dying. Either its too hot or its too cold. lol. Ill have to try again next year.
M
Green house or a small tent set up can keep them going year around. I have seen some pictures of some legendary tomato plants in greenhouses it would over 20 ft tall and x4 as wide lol