Garden Tour

So I spent last week working on my gardens. It was gorgeous weather and the neighborhood kids were out for spring break. Everyone was busy enjoying the outdoors and I got quite a bit accomplished, but with gardening it seems there is always another project in the works.

These are my main garden boxes.  The front three are ready for planting and have a nice four inch layer of hay on top.  Seeds will go in today if the rain holds off for a bit.  The back three are in sad shape.  Ever since my niece had a load of free wood chips delivered to her house, and I witnessed their Back to Eden gardening method, I have been on a mission to get free wood chips for my garden.  You'd think in the country that wouldn't be a problem, but it is!

I think Doug found a local tree trimmer that will give us chips for free.  We'll find out for sure on Thursday.  Keep your fingers crossed!  If this comes through, I have plans for two more garden boxes and two more beds near our garage (see what I mean about more projects!).

Below is my medicinal herb garden.  It fared very well during our mild winter this year.  I made sure that what could go to seed did go to seed, like basil and dill, and everything else just got cut back.  This bed will get a good mulching with the wood chips and some new additions like yarrow, horehound, and ecchinacea.  

.

This little garden is my memory garden.  Four rose bushes stand for my four angels in Heaven.  There are also daylilies, amaryllis, gladiola, and lavender ~ all the flowering plants I love.  It will get a good layer of wood chips as well, I have a heck of a time with weeds in this little garden.

These four boxes are my kitchen garden.  I have onions, garlic, carrots, and herbs planted here.  The bed near the house have hydrangea that is just now coming back to life after the winter.  I hope to propagate some more and fill in this bed completely. Hydrangea is simply my most favorite flower!  I mulched with hay here.  Hay is super cheap and I have found it does a great job of preventing weeds and retaining moisture in this bed.

The fruit trees are budding and blooming! 

 My lemon tree is loaded with blooms and bees and the smell is amazing!  

The elderberry bushes that I planted on Valentine's Day are growing like crazy.  I'm very hopeful we will have some berries for syrup this summer!  Our other fruiting trees, pear, fig, orange, and apple are also coming out with new growth and lots of buds.

I finally got the bed in front of the house weeded and mulched with hay.  I have some flower seedlings that will go here in a few weeks to fill it in.  I call this bed my hummingbird garden, all the plants are loved by my little hummers:  lantana, plumeria, hibiscus, and canna.  If you don't find the hummingbirds fighting over the feeders, you'll find them here!

This is my sad front porch.  There are two long beds on either side of the walk way that didn't grow much.  I spent a year amending the soil with compost and hay and this year it will be growing food instead of ornamental flowers.  Four tomatillo plants and trellises of candy roaster squash will line the walls.  

We'll see how it goes, and no matter how it turns out, this area will be GREEN for sure!

So that's the tour of our little part of the earth.  I have some other projects in the works to establish permaculture on the property.  It's a slow process, it's hard and dirty work, and I'm OK with that!

Hopefully I'll be able to post on Thursday about the delivery of our free wood chips!