Garden Blogging

We have just planted our first "crops"-- various greens and lettuces, and one artichoke to replace one that failed to make it over the winter. And our apples are blooming. Newcomers often complain to us that they can't get things to grow. As usual, Kipling has something to say to them.

"Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made

By singing :- "Oh, how beautiful!"and sitting in the shade... "

In this case we-- actually mostly Libby, built the soil itself. The back yard looked like this (first photo, not second, which is a later if not finished stage):


Lib basically dug huge pits and filled them with a mix of horse manure, aged pigeon manure, and compost, with perlite to lighten it. (That big white cube is a sack of perlite). She calls the process "making giant flowerpots". You can't just put in seeds and expect things to grow. The work is backbreaking, but the results are spectacular.

MATT: Steve and Libby's rich garden in the desert will make our small effort an amusing counterpoint. But we've at least dug a bed this year to augment the annual Garden Pot. It is amazing, really, what a little pot in the backyard will do for you.

(The Crop: Early Girls, Better Boys, Romas, eggplant & bell pepper)