Since things are settling in the garden, and everything is where it should be for now, I thought today might be a good day to stop and give you an official tour of the garden. I hope these details do not bore you to tears, but I know that I, for one, love looking at just how other people lay out their garden. Not that anything I've done here should be taken as advice, of course. You know I have no idea what I'm doing, right? That's how it feels sometimes out there in the garden!
The fenced-in portion of the garden is roughly 60' x 100', And I like to think of it as four quadrants or zones, the front left being herbs and the garden shed and supplies, etc. And you'll see the rest....
As you enter the garden, directly to the left, around the stump of the old ash tree ('burns wicked good, that ash!' says Papa), is the small herb garden. Though the garden is a bit of a walk from the house, at least this spot where I run to quickly each time I'm cooking, isn't as far back as it could be. In here are all the usual suspects of herb goodness, including my favorite at the moment - savory.
To the right of you, as you walk into the garden, begins the raised beds. The first is full of greens, greens and more greens and more annual herbs, like dill and cilantro. Radishes are here, some onions and leeks interspersed and some zinnias too, because why not (a common theme, you'll discover)?
Moving further down, the next bed is full of beets, of a few different varieties. Again, with onions and leeks in between the rows. Looking at this again, I know it isn't enough beets. Ah! We are such huge fans of beets around here.
The next bed is full of brassicas - all kinds of kale, chard, bok choy, broccoli, cabbages, cauliflower, rutabaga, brussels sprouts, and surely something else I'm forgetting. This bed always makes me so happy - so well these things grow around here.
The next bed is full of carrots, or at least carrot seeds. My first carrot planting had a pretty poor germination, so I started over. And there are a few pepper plants tucked over to the side, not exactly intentionally, but because I forgot to leave a place for them anywhere else! These things happen.
And then we come to the garlic! Which is getting closer and closer to harvesting - hooray!
And in this last bed, we have bush beans, with sunflowers in the middle, and spinach on the end (the spinach, man, it's everywhere).
Behind the bush bean bed, are cucumbers on trellises with greens underneath, and more zinnias! (Can you tell where Adelaide helped me plant?)
And coming up a little bit further, are all the tomato plants, on the hugelkultur beds. I think there are forty eight here? I can't remember exactly.
And that wraps up the right front corner, where most of the beds are.
Beyond the beds, beginning the back right quarter (where Ani lives!), we have the pole beans. And behind that (not photographed) is corn.
And behind that, the potatoes! And Ani, of course. The potatoes are looking mighty fine, I might add....thanks to some expert bug squashing and hilling by Papa.
Beyond the potatoes on the right back side is the compost area. And then we cross over to the back right quarter (is this making any sense?).
The back left quarter here holds asparagus, rhubarb, and squash. This area is getting my love today. I just pulled back the row cover late last night to discover huge squash plants! And huge weed plants too!
Up just a bit from that is the cattle panel trellis with peas on one side and gourds on the other. They're coming up nicely!
On either side of the garden, running the length of it, are flower beds. On the left are mostly perennials, while the right holds all the cut flowers (so many marigold varieties, it's ridiculous!).
And then we step back out of the garden gate and beyond to the orchard (it still feels silly calling it that, but someday those twenty something fruit trees will make fruit!), where the raspberries, blueberries, elderberries, and blackberries all live.
And, because I 'ran out of room" in the garden, and because we were laying this black plastic here anyway (to make a strawberry patch next year), I planted a slew more squash plants here, just outside of the garden fence.
Phew! Are you still with me? Thank you, friends, for taking a little tour of my garden today. And now I suppose I best stop talking about it and just get out there. There are peas to be harvested and squash plants to weed and kale to be eaten!
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During the growing season, I share a garden update once a week. If you are doing the same (on any day of the week) in your own online space, please leave a link in the comments section below so that we can take a stroll through your garden! Or simply, in your words, share what you've been up to in your own garden. Be sure not to miss the comments of these posts, as the garden wisdom shared by all of you is such a beautiful thing to see - I learn so much every week! Thank you, friends. And blessings on another year in the garden!
