The black shade cloth tunnel is a cat shade tent so they can hang out with us when we’re working on hot days — silly but they love it. That was last year.
It’s got thriving beds of strawberries and then the usual food such as potatoes, garlic, beets, kale, greens of many types, green beans (Masai is my favorite since it’s a French style bean that holds well on the plant), nasturtiums, breadseed poppies, leeks, lilies, amaryllis (their summer vacation), and lots of carrots, borage, shallots, onions, etc. Our soil in this bed is so wonderful that there’s no turning over (which I don’t believe in anyway since soil microorganisms are so highly stratified.) To loosen the soil before planting, I just use my hand like a plow blade, running it easily under the surface and then smoothing the top. It’s light and fluffy with a high percentage of worm castings.
tomato trellises
The trellises were built by Joseph out of saplings from the woods here. This garden was in it’s first year and built over a leach field so fertility was a problem because of the fine sand for many feet down. We built beds on top with manure, soil, compost and mulched well, but no earthworms would stay in it despite repeated worm transplants. This year they are there already! Straw mulch is the answer.
The garden over the leach field in early season
Same general area but a bit later in the year
Scallions, basil and kale dominate in the last photo. Here we grew lots more carrots, greens, fennel, brussel sprouts, five kinds of basil, sweet and hot peppers, red onions, a test plot of wheat for a local bakery, Asian eggplants, brocolli, leeks, paprika peppers, mustard greens and reds, and more.
We grow a lot of food here. We enjoy it and are ever expanding
The garden over the leach field in early season
Same general area but a bit later in the year
