Garden Overview

Here's a view of the garden from the Ark roof. Laura just got through mowing some weeds and is moving the mower out of the way. Isn't it splendid to have a wife who enjoys mowing?

The garden is divided into 3 parts, each of which is about 1000 square feet. The left section, closest to the river, is the designated winter garden area, because it's farthest from the shadows of the pine trees along the highway and gets more hours of that precious winter sun. I have already tilled 3 bales of hay into it, and will till it once a month to keep the weeds down. I plan to start the more slow-growing plants (kale, collards, chard) in pots the first of August, for transplanting later. Other seeds (lettuce, spinach, beets) I'll plant directly into the garden the first of September

The middle part will be fallow this summer. Next week I'll till in 3 or 4 bales of hay. Then I'll till the weeds under about once a month. They say weed seeds can live for 7 years, so this will be a long struggle. But eventually I hope to have the weed situation reduced to a dull roar rather than the overwhelming tsunami it is now.

The section on the right is this year's active garden. I'll be alternating the middle and right sections each year unless I can find some weeding help, in which case I'll be gardening both sections. The tomato vines have wire cyliners about 5 feet high to support them. I put a piece of hardware cloth on the top of each cylinder to protect the plants from hail, or at least the hail that falls straight down. The peppers have shorter wire cylinders, mainly to protect them from being stepped on by pets and other univited guests, and have the little piece of anti-hail hardware cloth as well. I also have a wire cylinder for the Armenian cucumber to climb up. So far this year's garden is looking great, and we've been eating broccoli, beets, squash, and greens of all types for quite some time. Now for some tomatoes and peppers...