Garden: version 2.0

[Soka]

Last year, I attempted to grow some of my own food (tomatoes, corn, mint, rosemary, carrots) but I failed miserably. I have a black thumb, it seems. (mainly I'm allergic to bees and my yard was full of them and I couldn't go outside during the majority of the day.

So this year, since we might be staying in our townhouse, I was wanting to try a garden again. My "yard" is small, incredibly small. This was my "garden" last year.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r197/Zim_Snake/Yard001.jpg

So I don't have a lot of space to work with, but somehow I'd like to put in a compost pile and grow a few different types of food. My carrots were great until they flooded, so I'm going to try those again. Definitely going to try tomatoes again. Any suggestions for this space that I call my yard? And any way to deal with the bees? (I don't have an epi pen since I don't have health insurance to go get one)

[Veganforlife]

A couple suggestions? Raised beds, filled with excellent soil. Potted plants (althought have to water more frequently).

As far as the bees? They are part of gardening.

Maybe plant bee-specific flowers, like Lamb's Ears to attrack them there and away from your veggies.

It's got GR8 potential!

[rawstrength]

Have you read about the square food gardening method? It is a way to make the most out of a tiny space.
Also, please, please consider getting an epi-pen and carry it with you always. You never know when you might accidently get stung by a bee, no matter how careful you are. We all want you here with us :) . Find a doctor friend who can prescribe you an epi-pen. Two epi-pens only cost around $100, but they could save your life. Certainly, your life is worth more than $100!
Best of luck in your gardening endevours.

[oceanluv]

I agree with VFL. raised beds, pots, and maybe get some worms to help with the composting. They help break down the kitchen scraps a lot quicker, so you can use the composted soil sooner. you can google worm composting and get lots of info. I have found that when I am gardening, bees don't bother me, if I just let them go about their business. They might just want to see what you are planting for them. ;)

[spicyfull]

Everything in your Garden is nice and Green, its a New Year and soon you'll have a New Garden. I wish you Much Success.

[Raw Joy]

I did square-foot gardening for the first time last year, doing two squares. I have a big yard, but it's all shade where it's level and all hilly where it's sunny, so this worked out well for me.

I made a few mistakes. Vining cucumbers which basically took over one entire square, depriving me of beans, beets, peas, and hot peppers. But I did have a lot of cucumbers!

The other one did fairly well and I had plenty of tomatoes, peppers and swiss chard.

I got the Square-Foot Gardening book at Borders for about $18 or so.

DH didn't have time to make the boxes, so I just used the concete blocks, set them up, and then used string to outline the squares. Used basic tomato stakes and $12 trellises from Home Depot for the cucumbers (and beans that didn't come in :D ). I did follow the mix for the soil.

So you can do it fairly cheaply, or get some of the fancy stuff that the author sells on his website.

[jacsam]

I love growing two types of tomatoes. Grape and a larger one. The grape we just eat and the larger ones we use for eating right away and then I dehydrate most of them for the colder months, to use in marinara sauce and just snacking on. Your small space would be wonderful for tomatoes....they do seem to need alot of sunlight. Good luck.