My Garden, not big, more of an experiment

I plant a raised bed garden each year in my small yard.  I used to plant three small beds in my front yard so I would remember to water it and weed it (basically just take care of it).  I had grapes in my back yard (removed them to build a large shed for storage) and one grape vine in front.

This is what my front yard used to look like a few years ago. A doorway through grape vines and behind it a garden on left and right as you approached the front door.

  Here are some pictures of my gardens in the past and this year.

 

 This was my garden bed last year, it was moved from my front yard to the side of my house.  The normal soil in my yard is about 4 inches deep before you hit some kind of hard material that does not let water soak through it. For that reason, I added some building stones around an area and fill it with more dirt making a total of about a foot deep (maybe a bit less).  I figure with proper watering and fertilizer I can grow a few tomatoes and peppers, maybe even some green beans or cucumbers.  I did not get much of a crop out of it last year because I planted much too late in the season (or at least that is what I thought at the time) and I modified it this year with a cage to keep out birds and also added a watering system.

First I plant my seeds in seed starter kits

Then I transplant them into seed cups which I cover with cutoff 3 liter soda bottles to keep them moist.

When the weather improved, I move my seeding trays and bottles outside to harden the plants in the shade.  After a few days I transplant my seedlings into the raised bed (which is filled with a mix of topsoil and purchased garden soil since my ground soil is horribly poor for growing a garden otherwise).  This year I added a cage and I installed micro drip watering on a timer to keep them watered twice a day ( I have no clue how often or how much to water them in this Texas heat and with shallow soil).

Eventually my plants started to grow inside the cage that I had built to protect the cherry tomatoes from birds.

But the plants I had in a secondary bed grew better.  The first bed doesn't get as much sunlight as the second.  Tomato plants in the first bed don't flower, while those in the second bed flower and produce fruit.  You can see how tall the tomato plants have grown and the lower green plants are lemon and lime basil.  Also in the same bed are Zinnia plants, oregeno, and yellow peppers (well, the yellow peppers have not produced any peppers yet.. I don't think they get enough sun).

I had started a LOT of tomato plants this year, so to keep from wasting them I added three 32 gallon trash bins behind my house to plant the rest of my tomato and basil plants.  The tomatoes grew tall before getting enough sun to produce flowers and fruit.  So far the only problem with pests I've had is with a couple of horn worms. The problem with horn worms is they can eat most of a tomato plant down to the stems before you see them the next day. I was lucky my plants were only half eaten and recovered after the worm removal. I learned a lot about growing a garden in containers and what amount of sunshine tomatoes take before they produce fruit. I also learned that Basil is very easy to grow, and it tastes sooooo good fresh! Oregeno does not grow so easily but it is also great fresh flavor!