FarmTina is moving!

I have some exciting/scary news: I'm in the process of MOVING FarmTina.

Here's a little peek at the almost-clean paved alleyway that was my garden for 2 years. I'm moving everything over to my new home, another neighborhood in Brooklyn, where I have... wait for it... wait for it... A BACK YARD WITH SOIL. Soil! Real land!

I'll now be planting directly in the ground, but still doing some container gardening along the edges. This new space is smaller than my previous pavement paradise, and I know I'll have a new set of problems to solve and mistakes to make. There are also some problems I won't have any more, such as when I stupidly planted my edamame in metal buckets that heated up to become burning ovens during the heatwave. No more metal buckets!

The toughest part so far has been moving my compost pile. I spent a few hours shoveling it all into massive unsealed plastic bags as seen in the photo above (compost lets off gases that need to be released), and I put the 5 bags in the back of my borrowed 1995 Dodge Caravan. Use your imagination to understand what it's like driving a van filled with every level of composting food waste. Then imagine the kinds of bugs that crawled out of those bags and onto the walls of the van while I was driving. And then imagine my dog having a field day eating them all off the carpeted walls. (Also, imagine how I was driving a 1995 Dodge Caravan that STILL RUNS PERFECTLY.)

So in an attempt to keep as many of my plants still producing until the end of the season, I have buckets of eggplant and peas and beans and brussels sprouts just sitting on top of my new soil back yard. This is going to be a fun transition, and a good challenge to keep the garden active in the meantime.

FarmTina Two is almost ready to be revealed!

Comments

[Mary Walker]

Well, congratulations on the move and good luck. I wondered what had happened and whether you had come through the hurricane well. Glad to see the silence wasn't due to utter devastation.

[mercedes]

hey farmtina!
i love that you are doing this. i had a small veggie patch behind my apartment in los angeles,which was so much fun. and i now that i just moved to new york city, i definitely want to start a mini bucket garden on my roof. as far as planting in the ground, you'll have fun making mistakes and learning how our beautiful world works. it feels so rewarding to see your first fruits, no? but great job on the blog, and i will definitely come here often to get tips on planting in giant pots, since this is very new ground for me. happy planting!
-mercedes

[Skye Dawnbreaker]

Exciting news indeed! I am glad to hear you are doing well, I too was concerned about not hearing from you after the hurricane, good to see you are well. Can't wait to see FarmTina Version 2.0 :) you'll do great.

- Skye

[Nichole]

Congratulations and best of luck with the move! I read about you in Bust magazine, and I can't wait to see what you do with the new space!

[philippines real estate]

Tina, good luck to your move! I can't wait to see pictures of your new home especially your garden.

[Bob]

I grew up with a HUGE garden (and I Mean HUGE, about 1/3 acre worth) so I've been mniissg it alot! This year I got to plant my very first garden all of my own! We created the garden from a grass plot...SO not fun to do...we keep getting grass growing in there; I have a feeling it will be a couple years yet until we can stop getting the grass coming back. But this year we planted Corn, Carrots, Radishes, Peas, Tomatoes, Raspberries, Rhubarb, Pumpkins, Cucumbers, Strawberries, Red Bell Peppers, Jalepeneo Pepper, and Cauliflower. Sounds great right? Sadly only the tomatoes, cauliflower, peppers, 1 pumpkin plant, 1 TINY rhubarb Plant and a few strawberry and Raspberry plants actually grew. (due to weather our garden was planted really late this year) So hopefully next year I will be able to plant all the above and more and have better luck next year! I really LOVE gardens!Returning the Visit and Follow. :)