I've never gardened before. Well, I've dug holes for my mom, but that doesn't really count. She always did the thinking and planning and pruning and maintenance and she's always had the patience and memory to go out and actually take care of the things. I just dig holes, then go back inside and read.
But now I have this whole back garden and it's kinda mine (well, and Ben's, and it does belong to the people we're renting from but they've never really done much with it and said if I want to grow stuff in it, go ahead.) I really don't want it to go to waste, but there's a problem.
It's very, very shady. I think this photo describes what I'm dealing with:
That's right. No sun where the plants would start growing. (This was taken today, at 12:30pm, February 1, 2010. I'm not about to take out my garden fence, or the hedge pictured, as they're the privacy barriers between us and our neighbors, and really, I'm sure they want to see me in my jammies just as much as I want to see them.
There are some bulbs coming up along the bottom of the hedge. I don't know what they are, but they may be daffodils.
This is round the side, looking back at the house. This might get sun at high noon in July but at every other time of year it is shaded by two complete houses.
Whole garden, at noon. The upper parts of the plants on the one side get light for the second half of the day, but everything else is in the dark most of the time. The plants that are out here are happy and flourishing, mostly because they're hardy, cold-loving, shade-tolerant, completely-inedible decorative shrubs.
So, my question to you, dear reader, is: based on the information provided, and my answers to any inquiries you may have: is it worth it to try and raise fruits or vegetables in this dark den? I really want figs, spinach, and tomatoes, but if they're just gonna wilt I won't torture them. Do miniature fruit trees grow well indoors? I have some big pretty skylights in the study. Maybe in summer I could open them and let the plants get some "outdoors" during the day? I don't know. Is it even worth it to have a garden if its just in the dark all the time?
3 comments:
I'm pretty sure food-plants need sun. I know for sure tomatoes do. I have similar issues with my yard...I've resorted to the window herb garden (which I only installed with your help, and which dies all the time because I leave the plants in their plastic store-pots).
Someday, I envision a sunny garden full of food...
It looks like you may be getting a lot more sun by the middle of the summer. You could try vertical gardening along that one sunny fence, tomato vines on trellises e.g.
There are many books about gardening that could be helpful to find vegetables that need less sun/ indirect sun to grow. I recommend spending a few hours in a library or bookstore to find a book that you like. I reviewed a book on my blog that I think is a must read for anyone getting into gardening: http://gabe-greencross.blogspot.com/2009/10/book-review-animal-vegetable-miracle-by.html
(sorry for the nasty big link)
Have you met the neighbors? Perhaps they could advise you.
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