I thought it might be fun this week to walk through the garden with you, bed by bed - what we're growing and where. Some of it was quite planned and some of it was entirely haphazard, as in "oh! I forgot to make a place for the parsnips!" or "we really need to plant more carrots." and so things are tucked all over. It's an evolving space, this 65' x 100' garden. Really just two years into having a vegetable garden here, I'm still figuring out where I want things and how best to care for it. We are leaning towards and really loving our 'modifed" raised beds (out of logs, with stakes to hold them in place), and mowing the spaces in between (rather than all those wood chips, which were becoming a bit high maintenance and hard to get a hold of). There's still some green space left here - a lot really - that we can work with in the future, and I'm excited to see this shape continue to unfold.
But the tour. That's what we're doing today.
I'm pulling in Calvin's ariel shot from last week to give you a sense of where we're going here. We'll start by the garden gate just behind the garden shed outside of the shot on the right, and walk down the middle aisle to the back, then back up again. Ready? Let's go!
Two sides of the garden fence are full of tomatoes of all kinds interspersed with borage and basil both (I've found the borage quite helpful in keeping away the hornworms, though it is a bit catchy and I have to be careful that it doesn't spread everywhere each year). The other two sides are slowly growing perennial beds full of herbs to use medicinally and for dyeing - chamomile, mint, bee balm, echinacia, lavender, comfrey, and so many other things.
The first bed upon entering is the largest - the brassicas (mostly). Soooo much cabbage, brussels sprouts, rutebega, swiss chard, kale, collards, broccoli and cauliflower.
Behind that is the "secondary" brassicas bed! As in, "I think there's enough space to put one more bed here and we really eat a lot of broccoli." Second plantings of broccoli and kale went in here. Behind it is a patch of bee balm in the corner that I just started this year, as well as potted basil and eggplants.
Next we come to perhaps my most exciting bed of the year, albeit perhaps not a practical one - the flower bed! Entirely cut flowers, entirely just for fun. I am SO excited to see this grow with all the calendula, marigold, nasturtiums, zinnias, poppys and more!
The potatoes take up a great deal of space in the garden - more than anything else. They just store so well and grow so well in our part of the world. These could use another round of hilling, but all is looking good so far!
Next we come to the greens - a lot of lettuce, spinach, parsley, radishes, celery, a lot of beets and a whole mess of herbs on the end. I daresay I hit up this bed more than any at dinner time all summer long.
Next is carrots (danvers, my favorite) and onions.
Bush beans, with my favorite mulch between them - leaves.
Then the pea teepees, which are working well and which we are eating so much from these days.
Followed by alllll the pole beans. Lots and lots of pole beans.
Behind the peas and beans is the hoop house we planted with gourds and decorative tiny pumpkins. It's slow going (we're worried there's a bit too much shade this far back), but I'm hopeful that the plants will grow up and over that cattle panel soon.
And then we come to the squash - quite a few varieties here. And you can see Annabel's cottage tucked behind that.
Behind the squash is the garlic, two full beds. I never plant enough for all that we eat - perhaps this year.
Across from the squash and coming up the other side of the garden are the asparagus beds, the rhubarb bed, and the most recent dug bed full of second plantings of peas, beans, spinach, more lettuce.
Beside that is more carrots, beets, and parsnips.
Then we come to the melons, cucumbers, and peppers. There are more gourds planted alongside the fence in this area.
In front of that is a bit more green space, and where we have a little sitting area, and my potting area, and the garden shed. I'd love to put a little stone patio there someday. Afternoon iced tea in the garden? Yes, please.
Just outside of the garden fence is where all the berries live, and the "orchard" begins. But I'll save that for another day...and wish you a lovely day in your own green space!
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If you're keeping garden notes and photographs and want to share it with the rest of us, do leave a comment with a link so that we may take a stroll through your garden too! It's a delight to see what and how things are growing all over, and to read the comments with such great gardening wisdom! Thank you all for continuing to share in this little project.
