In Stride

The garden seems to be hitting it's stride, finally.  Yeay!  I thought I'd share some updated pictures with you, so you can see too.

This is the garden, right after it was put in, May 31st.

Dirt, dirt, dirt.  So discouraging.

This is the garden on the 24th:

Less dirt!  Yeay!

Ok, let's take a walk around, shall we?

As we get a little closer, we can look to one side:

Oooh!

And the other side

Aaaah!!

Let's get closer.

The eggplant and zucchini used to look like:

 
But now, kablammo (ish)!!!

Actually, I think they've gotten bigger since I took this picture.  If not, I'll just keep telling myself they did.  It makes me happy.  :)

The beans back then:

What beans, you say?  These beans!!

Kapow!

The tomatoes and garlic last month.

Wait, you say, I don't see tomatoes.  I see sticks and garlic.  Well, take a look now, baby!

Bango!

How about the pumpkins and corn?

Yeah, not much to see there.

How about now??

Kachow!!

Potatoes anyone?

Not then.  It was dirt.

But now!

Bazingo!

And the cucumbers back then?

 Not so much.

But now

That's more like it!

Let us look at the lettuce.

Then:



Eh.

And now:

Yeay!!

The field corn also came up:

Whoo.....uh...nevermind.

It is fairly pathetic, though.  I overestimated the amount of sunlight that patch actually gets.  In reality, it's not enough.  So I wait to see what this patch does, but I don't have much hope.

What have I learned so far?  The importance of mulch.  Mulch, mulch, mulch, everyone.  Just mulch--that's going to be my answer to every question from now on.

How do I get my garden to grow?
Mulch.

Why are those tomatoes so big?
Mulch.

What's 8 times 5?
Mulch.

See?  It works for everything.

I use old leaves, grass clippings, compost, old chick bedding, old duck bedding, rabbit poo, yeah pretty much whatever I can find.  I'm not proud.  Also, constant weeding.  Weeding, weeding, weeding.  It's annoying.  I can't get ahead.  But I try anyway.  Next year, I am going to try to put newspaper down under the mulch.  I do it in all my perennial gardens, and it works to keep the weeds down.  That will be what I do next year to see if it will do the same in the vegetable garden.  Someone remind me of that, will you?  I'm know I'm going to forget.  

So, so far, so good.  I'm pretty pleased with it.  In fact, it's almost to the point where I'd like to put a chair in there and just sit with the plants.  Almost, but not quite.  If it gets to that point this year, though, I know it was a success.  Last year all I wanted to do was put a big blanket over the garden and hide it.  We shall see.

What else did I learn?  The garden is not big enough, unless the yields are higher than I think they will be.  So the question remains; do I take the front yard over (in part), or do we clear some trees and use the acreage we're not using?  Questions, questions.  That's a toughie.  For now, though, I am happy as a clam. 

Be well, friends!!  Go outside and mulch!!