Forrest's Bloomington Garden

I have a large garden in my backyard in the Bryan Park neighborhood in Bloomington. Since I moved to Bloomington to start a PhD program in August 2007, I have grown nearly all of the vegetables I have eaten, and have fed housemates and friends as well. The area devoted to vegetables is approx. 2000 sq ft. The first picture shows the hoop tunnels I built with electrical conduit and 6 mil plastic. Anthony gave me the electrical conduit, which someone else had salvaged for use on his farm (otherwise I could have bought pvc pipe), Amy helped me cut re-bar stakes to anchor the conduit in the ground, and I bought the 6 mil plastic rolls in the hardware store. They provide enough protection to overwinter cold-hardy crops including many mustards, kales, lettuces, carrots, etc. I purchase most of my seeds from Fedco, which provides recommendations of crops that survive with levels of protection in central Maine winters - far colder than southern Indiana!
For more information on eating fresh vegetables out of a winter garden in the climate of the northeast and midwest US, I recommend the books by Maine garden-writer Eliot Coleman.
I eat the best salads in Bloomington all fall, winter, and spring.

And of course, the garden explodes in the summer with all kinds of vegetables.
My sunflowers are "Mammoth" from Fedco. They grow 10-15 ft. tall in 3 months, a spectacular display, and attract critters. They are really hassle free to grow.

I think the question I'm asked most frequently about my garden is how I find time to do all of it. The answer is that, once you learn the basics of how to do it, it really isn't that much work. I rarely spend more than 10 hours a week in the garden, and most times of the year I spend much less. If you subtract out the time I would spend going to the market to buy vegetables, and the time I would spend doing other kinds of exercise, and the time I would spend mowing the lawn in the same area, it really is only 5 hours a week.

Did I mention that I love and am entirely addicted to my garden? Plants are truly miraculous.

Lately I've been spending more time on my perennial patches. I'm trying to figure out how to make them beautiful all year round, how to grow more native plants, and how to grow more useful perennials - vegetables, herbs, etc. I still have alot to learn about annual vegetables, but I'm a real novice with the perennials.

In addition to my garden, I have been involved in two really cool garden-related projects in Bloomington: The Hoosier Hills Food Bank Garden Project and the Bloomington Community Orchard. These are both fantastic new projects and I am proud to have played a very small role in helping them out!