Our garden this year is probably the best-planned one we've ever done. We started early with seedlings in the sunroom...
Wormies!
After a fair bit of deliberation, we decided to do raised beds instead of worrying about tilling and improving our uncertain soil. We also decided to do a formal square foot garden too. The beds were a job to make, but they've turned out great!
A before picture of the yard...
We started out digging a strawberry patch back by the garage...
The one section we decided to dig was over by the fence. We ended up framing it in wood, but it's not a strict raised bed (though it is double dug-couldn't have a garden without at least some digging! :)
Putting together the raised beds was a lot of fun and went surprisingly smoothly. Thank goodness Dad gave me a grinder for the rebar! And let me tell you, those things (the boxes) are solid!
Here you can see the beds when they're almost done! (you can see the finished strawberry patch back by the garage (where the grapes are too) and the poles for our espaliered apple trees-more about them soon!)
Our soil mix is one part compost, one part vermiculite, and one part peat moss. It was really easy to put together!
Beds ready for planting!
We've planted:16 peas, 12 beans, 6 cucumbers, 4 cantalopes, 2 nasturtium, 16 radishes, countless zinnias and snapdragons, 1 eggplant, 2 zucchini, 3 pumpkins, 10 spinach plants, 7 heritage tomatoes, 3 cherry tomatoes, 1 tomatillo, 8 basil plants, 6 sweet peppers, 2 jalapenos, 1 cayenne pepper, 2 watermelons... I don't think I'm forgetting anything...
And then we planted marigolds in both beds to make sure that the bugs stay away from them!
The grids are to help us plan and visualize the harvest and are made of twine. They're 1 square foot each. We started almost everything from seeds, except for some of the basil, the tomatoes, tomatillo, eggplant, and nasturtiums.
And then there's the herb garden! Jim moved all of the white rocks away, and then we started digging, and mixing in compost, peat moss and vermiculite...
The herb garden's got: 2 dill, 3 lavender, 2 sage plants, 2 English thyme, 1 mystery thyme, 1 oregano, 1 marjoram, 2 chamomile and 1 horehound. We're hoping to add bee balm, lemon balm, and chives!
We're hoping the sage and lavender will get as big as the rosemary is (it was there from the previous owners, and it's truly magnificent).
Here you can see it before it's been planted. More (finished) pics later, but that's it for the introduction to the garden!
