Saturday, May 31, 2008

...and so it grows




The garden keeps growing (funny how that works) and we've been harvesting salad materials pretty regular now. This is the view from the beehives looking towards the back of our property.




Inspecting the newly sprouted beans, which I've been told will make good "leather britches".




Some marigolds peeping out amongst lettuces and peppers. There are a couple of cucumbers on the backside getting ready to climb up the jute twine.



The potatoes seem to grow while you watch them!


The herb garden is just filling in but there is enough parsley, cilantro and dill to dress up the salads with. There is something most spiritual about picking a bunch of greens and going inside to make a meal of it. Every bit of what goes into salad was started from seed. There will be more soon....some cukes and peppers and tomatoes.

We've got plans for the main garden bed to be dug and tilled soon. I'm still not entirely convinced of the no 'til methods though we'll experiment with some of it. I think it's easier for me to create something aesthetically pleasing through tilling. I want defined spaces that are pleasing to the eye as well as useful for growing food. Both are important to me. I think that's why I like raised beds.

The eventual main garden area will have a retaining wall along the backside so it will be a well-defined space. Not sure how much we'll get done this year but at least we're getting our plans together finally.

Projects for this week include assembling and adding a second hive body so the bees have more room. Oh, and good news about chicken eggs...we found a farm just up the road that sells them for $1.50 a dozen. It's close enough to walk there and we even got to help gather the eggs last week. Since the evil home owners assoc. won't allow for chickens, this is a good alternative for now.

If only I could get some raw milk out here...still looking.
My cats need it ya know.;)

3 comments:

laura said...

oh how your garden grows!!

it looks lovely and lush and wonderful.

we're eating from ours now too and it does feel just like nothing else!

yum...

Heidi Snavley said...

Your yard looks so different from when we were there! Waaaahhh, I miss you guys! Your garden looks fabulous, maybe mine will look that good after another year. Love you!

piscesgrrl said...

An aesthetically-appealing garden is important to me too, and I appreciate my tiller for the same reason. Since we are entirely pesticide-free here, the weeds are insanely difficult to combat and nothing works like the tiller. I also don't plant in rows - usually spirals, or clumps, or winding zig-zags. Once the plants get really big you can't tell, but in the beginning it's whimisical and fun. I always plant a pinwheel of greens, like spokes radiating out from a center of herbs or black-eyed susans. I had to give up that garden, though, because a creeping weed in my yard won the battle after many hard years of struggle. Ah well. I'm a bit too busy to keep up several gardens now, but after reading this post I think I need to go out and plant! It's been a long, chilly spring so I'm pretty behind on planting - but them I remember that I'm behind every year and in the end, we still get food. Later than most, but that's kinda fun too!

Your gardens look lovely!