Making Do With A Small Garden

As usual, I've got my plot packed with plants and things are a little crowded. Ever read those plant spacing recommendations on the back of seed packets? I don't. There just isn't enough square footage in my bed to allow each plant their ideal real estate. So, my plants get very cozy with their neighbors. 

Radicchio and kale share an end of the bed. I chopped the kale way down the other day to give the radicchio a fighting chance. If it doesn't work, it might be time to pull the kale altogether. I've harvested a ton already and I can tell Josh isn't so impressed by all my creative techniques for incorporating it into almost every meal (yes, green smoothies are a regular occurrence here).

Six little cucumber plants are next to the kale and radicchio. My plan is to train them up some cages and get them out of the way. It's a small, burpless variety, similar to the kind that come packed 5 in a tray at the grocery store. My theory is that smaller cucumbers come from smaller plants. 

A few bush bean plants share a corner with a miniature musk Mellon. I'll train the melon up a trellis and the beans will work the floor. When the beans stop producing as well, I'll snip the plants off at the soil and let the roots fix nitrogen into the soil, hopefully assisting the melon to mature. 

So there is a some rationale to the crowding and the rest is just my way of dealing with a garden that is a bit smaller than I'd like. 

What does the rest of the garden look like?  

This is the view from our new picnic deck, overlooking a plot that's been planted with zucchini, eggplant, and a fairy garden. 

Beyond that are plots filled with dreams, aspirations, and weeds.