Lessons from the Garden ~ Going Vertical And Reclaiming Lost land

 I grew up in a major city, learning very little about gardening. So did M'Lady. And yet here we are living in the middle of a tropical garden.

The Life And Times Of Brian Waddington

The tomato plant top right, is now 6' tall and has more than 50 fruits growing

When we became the stewards of the land we live on we knew nada, zip, nothing about gardening. Thankfully the people we hired to work in our yard over the years brought many important skills with them.

Some knew how to build. Others were pretty fair stone masons. All of them, and there were around 10 in all helped to create the little bit of paradise we now enjoy.

For give or take the last year M'Lady and I have been gathering ideas from the worldwide library, aka the web. Which is where we came upon the idea to plant veggies in containers.

Some veggies (the leafy greens) did very well. Others (carrots) needed more room to grow. We tried full sized rice bags. It was an improvement but the bags would rot, fall down and we were back to where we were.

One day we came across the idea of vertical gardening in tall laundry baskets. They came with ventilation holes pre cut and would last for many seasons. All that was needed was for someone, in this case yours truly to cut in one 4"x4" opening in each side about halfway down so that we could grow plants top to bottom.

We started this in early May with one basket. We now have 13 planted. This is not a huge number but gardens take time. Plant the seeds, wait for them to grow, then wait for a day without too much sun or rain. 

Overall, this has been a raging success. More than 50 cherry tomatoes on one plant. Bitter gourd with multiple fruits. Leafy greens and green onions in abundance. With the ground space we have reclaimed we have planted uncounted squash plants. By the end of the year we hope to have 100+ baskets planted. That means we will have 800 or more vegetables growing where before we would only have had 100. Which means that multiple families will have greater food security.

Life Lesson

 With a bit of patience, a willingness to try a new approach and hard work it's possible to reclaim the parts of you that have been lost over the years. Once reclaimed you can produce any crop you're willing to plant and nurture.

Brian