We have one spot in the back yard that gets full sun, the corner next to the shed. So we dug up all the grass (NOT a small job), put low-profile edging along the fence line and shed, and turned the whole thing into a potager.
Alex helps Rob with sod removal.
Alex entertains himself in the back of the truck, alongside the rolls of sod.
We spent hours and hours drawing out the plan, changing the size of the raised beds and paths and edging beds...we finally found a compromise, matching the angle of the beds to the fence line. We will put trellises along the fence and shed for the climbing crops.
I am still surprised and thrilled by my husband's talents - simple & sturdy is what we were going for, and he whipped all three out in one afternoon. We filled the beds with garden soil, compost, and peat moss, and tilled in all together. We also tilled compost into the border beds.
The arbor we found on the side of the road on our town's "Spring Clean-up Day" - score! Rob fixed a few broken pieces and it became the entrance to the garden. Eventually the fence and beds will grey to match it. I imagined it covered in sweet pea or black-eyed-Susan vines.
Some recent rain watered in our new plants. This year we planted slicing tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green bell peppers, cilantro, beans, grapes, yellow squash, mini pumpkins, zucchini, cucumbers, a variety of lettuces, radishes, carrots, strawberries, broccoli, and cauliflower, as well as sweet basil, thyme, rosemary, chives, spearmint, chocolate mint, and blueberries in the beds bordering the garden. I also planted nasturtiums and black-eyed Susan vines in the arbor planters. That is a LOT for one little corner of our yard!
The first harvest! It made a great salad for my lunch, including the nasturtium blossom.
