A Midsummer's Update

While I struggled away with the lawn and the garden covers, the rest of the yard hadn't been in suspended animation. Obviously. Gardens never stop growing.

The pumpkin bed is doing well. The pumpkin further from the wall has a much thicker and longer vine but they both look healthy. Not that you can see that in the photo since the bed is pretty well dominated by lush Hopi blue corn. It got planted in all the vegetable beds on a whim when I remembered I had seed saved from a few years ago.

The tomato bed is doing all right. There's been one ripe tomato so far, which was fed with all appropriate pomp to my daughter. Two of the tomatoes are much greener and larger. The basil are doing great with the exception of the sweet basil on the end, which is being eaten by something. I've decided that I don't care for the Greek tower basil. It looks too neat and formal. Some of the onions are doing alright. They've been taking the worst of the beating from the dog.

The apples are doing great! I really need to start planting around them. I want comfrey, clover, walking onions, day lilies, and asparagus.

The watermelon beds are hanging on. The melons have healthy leaves but haven't really grown or spread much. I doubt we'll be getting any melons this year. The corn in these beds isn't as green as in the pumpkin beds but it's still doing fine. I think these beds dry out much quicker than the ones against the wall.

I showed off the grass last post, so I won't waste more space on it but I will add a photo of the play area I'm adding on the side. A patio rug under a sandbox, wading pool, and slide. It needs another rug. And maybe a swing hanging from the porch.

While working on the grass I did uncover some more archeological artifacts of people who used to live here. There's more evidence of young boys but also the first things that I could call girl toys.

In the front yard, the white carnations are doing well and the mint is happier looking than any I've ever seen. The globe basil, on the other hand, has had a rough time. It had large chunks die off and it was an unhealthy looking pale green. I think it was too wet. Looks better now though.

The cucumbers are doing very well. They're starting to produce flowers, which my wife is pollinating so cukes shouldn't be far off! The purple carnations are pretty dead though. Time to replace them.

Lastly, this little yucca is doing well. It was a tony little plant when we first moved in.  Shortly after, when I had some plumbing dine, it was trampled and buried under rock.  Slowly it's bounced back though.  A Google street view of our house suggests that before we moved in it was a rather tall plant that got chopped down so I'm pretty happy to have this legacy volunteer around.

A Garden Again

Following the planting of the trees, we've been excited about growing things again.  Before we add other trees, while we wait for evidence that we can actually grow a tree, there is a whole garden bed begging to be planted with something, anything.  When soft dirt beckons, it's impossible not to pick up a trowel and heed it's loamy call.
And so, of the weekend, plants were planted.  In any of my previous gardens, this many plants would have filled all the available space nicely, even as little baby plants.  In our new giant garden bed, they hardly show up in the photo.

Hopefully, they'll fill in a bit.  Specifics and lots of photos after the break.

Superflat Mode

With a great deal of roto-tilling, shovelling, and raking.  The yard is now pretty flat. We're finally ready to start building beds!  It's taken a lot longer than I would have liked but at about the same point that I started having free time to work on it, true summer hit and temperatures soared.  I know, excuses.

I also finally finished hauling concrete rubble to the dump. Yay.

On the greener end of things, the potted garden is doing very well.  The first tomatoes are beginning to ripen.  The first to turn red had a rot spot, but oh well.  Cucumbers have yet to produce anything but are really trying.  And the herb barrel is a wonderful riot of foliage.  It's dill really helped out a turkey I roasted a week ago.  Even the agave are doing really well!

So Far...

Alright!  My evening class is finally over so now I just have 40 hours of work to get in the way of my yard (and rising summer temperature, and general lethargic).

So! Lets see what we've accomplished so far and what we have to work with.

I measured my yard and created a general plan on Inkscape.  My wife helped me transfer some of that plan (the part pertaining to the garden beds) into the yard with stakes and string.  Basically it consists of 3 foot wide paths between 4x4 beds grouped into "T" and "L" shapes.  Here's a photo of the yard where I've attempted to highlight the strings that outline the beds.  Also, there are weeds.

I've also gathered a fair number of 18 inch square pavers (offered to my by my father-in-law) which will be perfect for the paths. I've still got another 20 or so to haul over.

Lastly, I've helped my wife plant a few things in some pots so we have some gardening to do while I build the beds. In the barrel on the left there are some herbs (Peppermint, Stevia, Fennel-leaf dill, and Spicy globe basil). Next to it is a tomato (Phoenix) and a pepper (mammoth jalapeno). On the right end is an earth-box type planter with some cucumbers (we'll see how it does). In front you can see my poor abused agaves that still seem alive, despite my neglect. There's still one pot left which will get filled with something at somepoint.

Come on summer! Lets gets stuff done!