The Burk Beachside Garden

My husband would laugh if he actually read this, but I am probably one of the most stubborn people I know.  And when someone tells me something can't be done, that actually fuels me to successfully complete the task at hand.  I have always wanted a garden. I have tried over the years.  Learned a lot of "what not to do's".

So moving back to Florida, I set my heart on a garden.  I knew I had to have raised beds and bring in soil.  We live beachside, which to my northern friends means that we live on the barrier island that runs down the east side of the state.  Yes, Florida has a barrier island, who knew?  So, our soil is extremely salty and sandy.  While at Lowes buying my lumber, I was chattin it up with the cashier about my plans. An old man pipes in "No one will EVER be successful with a vegetable garden beachside".  Really?  It's on old man!  So then my two 4X6 bed idea grew a bit and the dump truck came and dumped 8 yards of dirt in our driveway.

My husband simply shook his head and laughed. Now, please understand I did not actually plan that big of a pile of dirt.  After filling my two beds, the pile sat for probably 2 months.  I couldn't even give the stuff away.  So it was time to expand the garden and move the dirt.  Although my husband is extremely helpful in many areas, he leaves me alone with my "projects".  To sum it up, after a lot of sweat, this is where my garden is at:

These are the back beds, growing okra and various types of squash and pumpkin. I have already had to pull one round of squash because they got infested with worms.  I them moved on from my attempt at organic gardening and Sevin'ed them. No more bug problems, just have to sure to wash veggies well. 

These are the four front beds.  The first is corn.  It is doing pretty well.  I do need to make a fence around it because I noticed an animal has gotten to a few of the tops. The next bed is tomatoes, which are close to done for this round, and squash.  I am in the process of rotating out my summer plants and planting new seedlings.  The third bed is my eggplant and peppers.  The next picture shows you a better shot.  Now the back bed isn't worth showing close up.  Everything I have planted in that bed has died.  Not sure if it has anything to do with it, but our yellow lab passed away last spring and we buried him under the bed. My husband insists that he has at least three if not four feet of dirt onto of him.  I don't know because that was his "project".  Needless to say, everything in the bad has always died.  So I am now using it to cultivate better soil, mixing in my compost. 

I am so excited over my eggplant! I planted them because I heard they do really well in Florida.  So I figured it might give me a little success, and they have.  I have my herbs in restaurant pickle buckets, and yes my basil has gone to seed.  I need to replant.

I am by no means an expert.  I ask people a lot of questions and try new things all the time.  I have found it very helpful to have a good friend working on the same goals.  She turned a third of her backyard into a garden and is doing great.  But she also has 7 chickens, LOL. Check her out at http://thewhitesbackyardfarm.blogspot.com.  I have been able to add fresh peppers and tomatoes to our meals, but nearly as many as I would like.  This is definitely a work in progress.  Hope you enjoyed the pics!  Feel free to comment what has worked for you. I'm always up for new tricks to try.   Here's to a healthier family! Cheers!