Beginning with Last Year

Last year I asked for a plot of earth large enough to create a vegetable garden. The result was a beautiful spot that took on the characteristics of the majestic hanging gardens of Babylon (or at the very least the vegetable patch on the lower back 40 of the hanging gardens of Babylon.) The endeavor started out as a place to plant a few tomatoes and some basil. Well....never one to do anything half-way, I decided not to battle the hordes of rabbits that were waiting patiently to gobble up my fresh planted produce and fence in the plot. But, the plot of land was sloping and the soil was poor, so I had to make improvements. (Notice that for a few stinky vegetables I am practically going into the poor house trying to make them grow!)

SO, I fixed the slope, fenced it in, improved the soil and planted my crops (mom & dad helped!) Here is the result:
The area is 20'x16'. You can see the pole beans climbing up the fence to the right. The green peppers in the foreground and the tomatoes toward the rear. We decided to do everything organic and so the result was a bit more work....but, so worth it! I think we ended up with about 40 quarts of green beans just from a 20' row of pole beans. The cucumbers, eggplant, zucchini, acorn squash, and banana peppers are not visible.

In addition to the garden is a cold frame built of of my bedroom windows (I had all the windows in the house replaced and these were a great size for a cold frame!!) The cold frames held the lettuce, spring onions, and spinach. I also, decided to plant a few flowers and I ended up with a nice vase of zinnias and I absolutely fell in love with cosmos!

My friend Renee loaned me her composter and all of the materials from the garden and the kitchen go into that giant green rotating barrel. It is truly a miracle worker! You will also notice that Dad took the time to cut some small branches, strip them of leaves, and create a bent-twig fence to hold back the beans. It also kept the straw from the path from crowding out the plants.

I think that the only big problem was Japanese Beetles!! Yikes!! I found an old book with natural remedies. Sometime soon I will tell you all about that adventure! Ug!

In the bottom of the second picture you can just see the garlic bed under construction. A friend of mine from church assured me that I could grow garlic with no problems. Plant it in November....pick it in July! I am going to dedicate a post to that in the near future! The results so far are extraordinary!!

Until next week,
I wish for you quiet, dignity, and grace.
Dan