From the "orchard" looking back at all the berries to the right, and the garden, to the left. I look forward to the day when I can take the quotes off that "orchard"! Soon! Oh, the patience a garden (and especially growing trees) teaches me!
The strawberries, in! (Thanks to your suggestions, I purchased from Nourse Farms in plenty of time for my 100 plants to get in the ground before it was too late.) In the back you can see the blueberries and raspberries and behind them...the pigs!
Entering the garden. The chickens were climbing through the makeshift garden gate that's been here for years but that I didn't really have time to replace with a new one. So I screwed on a pile of found birch branches and voila, no more chickens. Granted, some of the kids and Steve too chuckled at my garden gate installation, but I rather love it.
You can see most of the garden from here...standing on top of the compost pile (which I tell everyone else not to do).
Though you can't really see this section, which is all the way in the back of the photo above. It's the new extension of the garden - potatoes, corn, and just-for-fun pumpkins. And a treehouse in progress! It's an area that was once run by sheep, then cleared by Papa, then extra cleared by pigs for a few years in a row. I think it's ready for growing things!
In her little corner of the garden, as happy as a five-year-old girl can be (which makes for a very happy, very productive gardening Mama, I might add).
Though she does step out from time to time, such as here to show me just how tall she thinks those tomato plants will grow. She might be right. I've gone back this year to my most preferred method of growing many tomato plants (um, 60 and counting?)...on a fence, tied up as needed with scrap jersey fabric ties.
A photo captured by Adelaide of the lupines and a visiting bumblebee. I always underestimate how much work and time the border perennial beds take, as they go around the entire garden. But they're really becoming my favorite part. Totally worth the effort, especially as I plant more and more useful, medicinal and dye plants in there.
A recent addition to the garden art 'decor' - a weaving from scraps of our yarn and some sticks we found in the woods.
From the front corner. I've got half of the row cover on the squash plants. Last year was my first year using it on them and also the first year that I managed to end up with all the squash before the squash bugs at it all. It definitely delayed their damage by weeks if not months. Hooray for that!
From Annabel's house, looking up. It doesn't look like anything yet, but I am trying a sunflower house near her garden house - a circle of sunflowers planted with morning glories. I hope it works!
Ah, it feels good to pause for a few moments with the camera in the garden. Because otherwise it's just too easy to feel overwhelmed by what there is to do and what hasn't been done yet. But for the most part, the garden is free of that kind of stress and it's lovely to pause and notice all that it is. Nearly everything is in now, and it's time to go back and start over with those that need help (the first round of carrots never germinated. I think this has happened to me before?), squeeze in the things I've forgotten (I always forget to leave room for the peppers), and whatever else we might decided just has to be. Though there is hardly a thing coming in the house for harvesting right now besides herbs, asparagus, and greens....it still might be one of my favorite times of year in the garden. Full of hope and potential, and still with so much energy to get the work done.
Alright, that's enough stopping and noticing, now it's time to get back to it.
Wishing you a wonderful day!
