This is what our yard looked like soon after we moved in. The row of plants in front are succulents "Hens and Chicks" from my mom's garden. I'll share a more recent picture towards the end of this post so you can see how much they have grown.
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| Garden "Before" photo |
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| Our side yard "Before" photo |
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| Dirt!
My plan of attack for this part of our yard was to install planter boxes. I wanted to minimize weeds in our vegetable garden and a raised bed in a planter box is slightly easier on your back when working in the soil. Another benefit to planter boxes is that you can take them with you when you move and you have a garden all ready to go at your new place!
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| Redwood planter boxes just waiting for plants!
In addition to planter boxes I added two bougainvillea along the fence facing the parking spots. Since these plants climb up over the fence as they grow I thought this would be a great way to add some color to our yard and create more privacy. When growing up in Florida, these plants were everywhere so it was fun to plant some of my own.
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To add some easy color and ground cover to our yard I planted a bunch of the succulent Red Apple Flower which were also gifted from my mom's garden. I planted this on the other side yard as well. While I was waiting for the Red Apple Flower to grow up and take over this large part of the yard, I planted a ton of sunflowers - my favorite flower!
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| Sunflowers!
I also planted some zinnias to the left of the planter boxes - all of these flowers were planted from seeds! I find it so exciting to watch plants grow up from seeds. Eventually the zinnia's grew up so high they were taller than our fence!
 
The planter boxes have had a decent variety of plants since I first put them in. Initially I purchased a tomato plant, basil, mint, pepper, dill and eggplant seedlings from Walmart. Here is what the planter boxes looked like right after I planted the seedlings.
I also planted zucchini and yellow squash, radishes, Swiss chard, cantaloupe, carrots, green beans and brussels sprouts from seeds. The boxes looked a little bare as all those seeds were growing up but eventually all those plants took over! I also installed an above ground sprinkler system which hooked into our spigot making watering super easy.
The zucchini plant pictured below produced a massive amount of veggies! Some were as long as my forearm and there was a time when I harvested two zucchinis a day!
The plant below is the cantaloupe plant which produced several fruits, but they were very mild in taste so not my favorite.
The next plant is the Japanese eggplant, which I planted in place of the cantaloupe when it kicked the bucket. This plant is still going strong and it probably 50% bigger than in this photo, if you can believe it.
 
Check out this massive tomato plant! It got so big it broke the tomato cage that was holding it up. I had to cut it way back and it is still producing tons of fruit. One of the great things about living in California is that you can grow vegetables all year round. I planted this tomato plant a year and a half ago and it's still going strong!
Swiss chard is incredibly easy to grow, which is why I chose it, and it will keep producing long leafy stalks the more you harvest. I recently cut off a huge section of a Swiss chard plant and less than two weeks later it was tall and colorful all over again. A very satisfying plant to grow.
 
This mammoth dill plant seeded itself! I had a smaller dill plant in the boxes and it died but this little guy sprung up on it's own. You can see in the next photo that it was as tall as I am but it didn't stop there - it was easily six feet tall at it's peak.
  
This is a watermelon plant that I grew from seed in the spot where the zinnias were. When they died I decided to use that spot to grow vine type plants and I first planted these watermelons and later put acorn and butternut squash there.
The highest producing and most consistent plant in the garden is my Anaheim chili plant. I had more chilis than I knew what to do with! This plant is still producing although now the chilis are bright red. I have no idea what caused this change but this guy has been growing as long as the tomato plant.
  
Here are some more photos of the different vegetables and fruit I harvested. I just love going out and finding a new treat in our garden. It is very satisfying to grow your own food and I just love getting my hands in the dirt and tending to the plants.
           
Now back to the more decorative side of the garden. Remember the sunflowers I mentioned at the beginning of this post? Well they grew up higher than the fence! Can you find me in this photo?
  
What about the row of Hens and Chicks I first planted?
 
As you can see the Red Apple Flower took over all that dirt and when the sunflowers died, I had a nice ground cover waiting for me!
Remember the side yard full of dirt? Well, I planted Red Apple Flower there and this is what happened!!
What about the bougainvillea you ask? Take a look!
 
Having a garden like this attracts many visitors too. Mainly bees come to visit me as they love the little pink flowers on the Red Apple Flower but occasionally I'll get a bird who wants to say hello and on the rare occasion a hummingbird. I have some butterfly friends too - but they are camera shy.
  
Soon we will have to move and leave these plants behind, which is sad for me. I loved tending this garden, watching it grow, giving it nourishment when it was needed and cutting off the dead parts so it could flourish. Much like our Heavenly Father does for us with such love, care and patience. When I taught high school English my students read a story called "The Harvest." It was about a man who worked in the fields and because of his strange behavior rumors started that he was hiding money buried in his fields. At the end of each day this man would go out to the middle of the field, dig a hole and stick his arm in it. Of course this baffled the other workers and the rumor got started. Finally, when someone followed him on this daily ritual they realized that he simply wanted to feel the earth and be connected to it. Even as I was teaching this story I thought the man's actions were strange and didn't fully understand it, but having toiled in the earth and felt the dirt for myself I understand this character's connection to the earth. What a wonderful gift God gave us when he created the universe and everything in it. "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." Psalm 150:6
This is what my garden looks like now, still going strong although I've removed the sprinkler system and don't water with a hose very much. Hopefully I can start a new garden, full of the promise of a new harvest when we move, but I will miss the long growing season in California. Just think, a vegetable garden experiences sudden and stunted growth with the arrival of winter, but the garden of our hearts can have a lifelong growing season if we choose to cultivate it.
  
The very last photo is taken from our bedroom window and I will miss this view terribly. I hopped out of bed each morning and peaked through the blinds to check on the garden and say "Good Morning." As any attentive gardener will tell you, even day by day I could see and would celebrate the subtle changes in growth. The bougainvillea plants will soon create a semblance of privacy and although I will not be here to experience it, I hope the next family will take care of the plants as I have and they will continue to grow and bring happiness and satisfaction to someone new. It has been such a pleasure to be an urban farmer.
Love,
Amy
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5
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