The Veggie Garden

My backyard is quite small and my friend Ev's is tiny.

My yard has shrubs, flowers, an apple tree, pond, fire pit and work area.

Ev's yard has a swing set, playhouse, columnar dwarf fruit trees, BBQ, small veggie garden and an above ground swimming pool.

Any open space she had has been filled by their new pool. Literally!

I've been wanting to try vegetable gardening for the last few years but, as my yard has be designed to within an inch of it's life, there really was no space unless I redesigned it.

That was not going to happen!

Driving my afternoon bus route I would pass a large field beside a major highway with a big sign that proclaimed 'Garden Plots For Rent.'

I finally decided to phone this spring.

I won't tell you how much it cost me to rent it, because, depending on where you live you might very well find it an outrageous price.

The owner rototills for you and water from a dugout is included in the price.

If the garden grows well, it would still not be less expensive than buying from one of the cheaper grocery stores, but it would be cheaper than buying all the produce from the farmers market.

I was a little nervous about being able to maintain it so I talked Ev, who is my neighbour as well as my friend, into sharing with me.

Our plot is 15 feet by 50 feet and Ev gardens one quarter of that.

I like to use a hoe to weed.

Ev prefers to weed by hand.

Ev's daughter Alice was happy to bring the weeds to the compost pile. (For a little while anyways!)

This is my portion of the garden. I've planted, among other things, heirloom plum tomatoes, spinach, three colours of beets, corn and purple potatoes

Ev's garden has an awesome crop of carrots, spinach (already harvested), yellow zucchini, corn, purple potatoes and more.

We've both found it much easier to maintain than we it thought we would and are already considering a larger plot for next year.

We'll keep you posted.