Gradual gardens can be overwhelming too.

When you plant a ton of tomatoes to forego loss and they all conspire to thrive!

Most of my garden produce is grown in buckets. That makes things easy to maintain. But, make no mistake, gradual gardens and low maintenance gardens are not maintenance free. Gardening is a lot of work, no matter how it's done. It's never idyllic, but it's definitely worth the work.

Right now, my buckets and raised beds are at the stage where they require a lot of watching. Watching for bugs, watching for weeds, watching for fertilization needs, etc, etc. Plus, everything that happens in a traditional garden that's already as big as it's going to get, can also happen in a gradually expanding garden. I'm pretty overwhelmed, you guys, but I'll survive.

Plus, this year, I grew too many tomato plants. I was trying to play it safe from accidental plant death by doubling the numbers. I also planted a second batch, a week after the first. Guess what? The joke's on me. They all lived. That means they all have to be taken care of. 

I wanted to show you guys a pic of all my many, many tomato plants here. you would not believe how many I have! Unfortunately, my computer and phone are not getting along.  

But anyway....

Yup, you can make the same mistakes in a smaller garden than you do in a bigger one. And if the mistake is over-planting, it's a lot harder to find a home for those extra plants. In fact, just last week I had to drill some more holes in more buckets, fill them with soil and plant the "extra" tomatoes.

Finding the space for them all was a challenge for sure.  But hey, I do not let plants go to waste.

And guess what? I did the same thing with the hot peppers. We'll have salsa galore, as long as I can find a viable home for everything. That's OK. We all love it. And there's always canning, freezing and donating.

Anyway, there you go. If you're planning a low maintenance garden, don't forget that low maintenance isn't the same as no maintenance. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a no maintenance garden. Bummer, right?