RE: Time To Start "Fostering" A Gardener
You really are the busiest bee in the garden @goldendawne and as a relative (3week old) newbie on here I am simply in awe at the level of dedication and kindness you are pollinating everywhere on steemit! 🐝
I am not a homesteader by any stretch of the imagination. What I do have is the smallest little back yard you could ever imagine, in the centre of a northern UK city. It's shady and completely concreted, enclosed by walls on all sides and gets very little direct sunlight BUT over the last 2 years I have tried my darndest to make it into a haven learning everything I could about shade loving plants, including growing veggies and fruit.
You might find it hard to believe but I have 14 trees (all semi bonsai'd) all growing very well including;
Oak (grown by me from an acorn!)🌿
Maple (acers in 4 different varieties...one of which, palmatum purpureum, is over 30years old)🌳
Holly, Willow, Bay (now 20 years old despite the moth caterpillers which adore eating it) Norwegian Pine (our living Christmas tree) 🌲and even, for irony if nothing else, a bonsai giant sequoia!
View from our house...on the right you can just see my composting bins
View from the bench where I love to sit watching the butterflies and bees busy at work.
Veggies that grow well here have been tomatoes (mostly in baskets cherry tumblers) every kind of herb I can get my hands on, lettuces, rocket, land cress, mitzuma, alpine stawberries, and spuds/potatoes. I should say I am completely organic and absolutely refuse to put any chemical near my babies! Plus I am blessed in as much as I plant it and it grows! 🌱
As a vegan, I eat lots of mushrooms and this year I am really hankering to grow some of my own...been researching it a bit and would welcome advice from anyone on how best to do this in the extremely limited space I have available. 🍄I was thinking of shiitake and oyster to start with but as a beginner maybe I am over reaching!? 😊
I probably don't qualify in this case because I am a humble pot bound gardener trying to create sanctuary from city living for myself and my daughter but a little mushroom advice, shady plant suggestions or veggies and fruits that you have found thrive in shade would be deeply appreciated.
Lovely idea and thanks so much for ALL you do⭐️
THAT is an absolutely GORGEOUS concrete garden! No matter the size!
You have really used some great ways to implement containers, pots and buckets!
Space allotment can be an issue; I know it is for me. I have to get pretty creative with my garden. This coming year will be my BIGGEST attempt at container/bucket gardening. Fingers crossed for success
Gosh thank you @goldendawne I am glad you like it. I have become quite creative, repurposing several strange and wonderful things into pots for plants and trees. I got a lovely dark red buddleia that had a huge root ball (and I had at that time run out of pots) so I used a vintage coal skuttle which was too heavy to lift when filled with coal anyway. This meant the plant had height and could grab what little light the garden gets!
This time of year (if you are in the northern hemisphere) is exciting because we are all at the planning stages of our gardens wondering what to plant, which seeds and varieties we will be buying/sharing and planning the space allocations (easy in my tiny little one). I am turning my thoughts to the mushroom beds UNDER the benches, and drawing up designs to maks shallow boxes to put them on tree bark chips, and busy brewing up some seaweed and comfrey fertiliser.
Happy bucket and pot gardening...and hoping you have a blooming great growing season...green fingers crossed 🌱💚🌿