187. Garden Tour, Part 2

And now for some photos and explanations to go with yesterday's sketch.

(click for bigger photos)

This is what my kitchen garden looks like to me first thing in the morning. I keep saying "kitchen garden" because I've got many multiples of this space in flowering perennials on my lot, which used to be my main focus. Those are now sadly neglected because all my attention is focused on the vegetables and fruits. The food production is time-consuming and thoroughly enjoyable to me, and I have almost zero interest in the perennials anymore. I need to be cloned.  Or better yet, I need a staff. (in my next life, I guess)

So I'm a few steps off my back deck for this photo. My garden plot is on the northeast corner of our lot.  As the sun rises in the east, it's got a bit of a challenge to get to the garden. There is a large hill (it could be termed a small mountain, which is stretching it, but it's my hiking hill and on the other side was a ski hill before people knew what a real ski hill was, you know) for it to rise above, and several tall trees, including the pin oak, and a hedge to get over before it hits my garden.  It's actually quite apt that the photos are a bit on the unfocused side, because so am I early in the morning. 

I have to climb up the hill.  Most of the time I am in only a robe that's trying to open in the front (about which I couldn't care less), or some shorts and a tank top or t-shirt that I've grabbed when I woke up, and bare feet. I'm often carrying a Diet Pepsi. If this were 1965, I'm quite certain I would be smoking a cigarette in lieu of the Diet Pepsi, my robe would be chenille, my hair would be up in rollers, and I'd be wearing fuzzy slippers. Or maybe my feet would still be bare; I'm not sure.  High class all the way -- that's me.

But of course, that was completely gratuitous information. David wants to photograph me in my authentic gardening garb for the blog, but I won't let him. And no, don't you even ask, because the answer is still NO. I'd rather be out there naked, because the robe just bugs me and gets caught on things, the belt wants to fall off, and I have to fight tripping on it.  Except I fear I'd get arrested, and plus, the mosquitoes would probably get me, because they are often still awake at that hour of the morning. It is really better when I am awake enough to slip on some shorts and a tank top.  I'm just sayin'.  I know, right?

I do love the sensation of the cold dew on my bare feet, though, on the dewy mornings.  Invigorating, and I start to wake up on my way up there every morning.  It's like the best coffee ever. And though my lot is not completely private from neighbors' eyes, it is mostly so, now that things have grown up enough and I've put the hedge up on two sides of my garden. So if they want to see me in my robe or my skivvies, they've got to really make an effort to LOOK.  One male neighbor just loves to shout out, "Hi, Norma!!!!" to let me know he is indeed looking. More gratuitous information.  Also:  Nobody has ever mistaken me for Jennifer Anniston, Marilyn Monroe or Eva Longoria.  I'm going more for Carol Burnett's impression of Norma Desmond at that hour of the morning. (I totally wish I smoked to complete the image.) And I'm no Martha Stewart, either, so don't expect garden perfection.

Getting closer....

closer still.....

And now, an attempt to capture what it looks like from right to left after I arrive at the garden spot.  This is the far east of my garden plot, looking north:

(See the beds in the middle ground?  They are the ones that have recently been replanted with yellow bush beans after the failed spinach.  Some beans have germinated, but it still seems spotty.  Fingers crossed that more will.)

Then I took a step to my left, more towards the west, still looking north:

The broccoli plant just about in the center of this photograph is now history.  I pulled it out to give some breathing room to the beans. The tall wire cages are bean towers.  They are nice modular things around which to plant pole beans. They are sturdy, make excellent use of space, and give structure to the bean plants as they grow up. I love 'em. I got them at Gardener's Supply.

Another couple of steps to the west, still looking north:

The previous photos were taken in the morning of July 4th, along with several other shots that didn't turn out worth showing on the blog. The ones that follow were taken at 7 p.m. the same evening:

Here you get to see my tomato plants...

..up close and personal.  This is the first level of fruits on an Early Girl plant.  Each of my two Early Girls has exactly the same number and same size of fruits on three "levels" so far. Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear, like.  I guess it's true what I recently read about determinate tomatoes -- they are "hard-wired" to have exactly the same number of stems, leaves, fruits.

These are the 2nd-level fruits which are, as you'd expect, less mature.  In this photo you can see a bit of the green tomato ladders that I use for support for my indeterminate tomatoes.  Also purchased at Gardener's Supply.  Now you start to see that gardening is not such a cheap hobby, eh?  Of course you really don't need all this fancy stuff.  A $2 wooden stake or a 59-cent bamboo pole would work almost as well, though I am sold on the Mercedes things I have. They have proved themselves over and over again for ease of use, ease of storage, durability, and strength to hold up the heavy produce I grow, even in strong winds and tough storms.  I have purchased them a little at a time over the course of 15 or 20 years, and reuse them every year, so it's not as bad as it sounds. And what price do you put on a healthy hobby that gives you almost infinite pleasure, and loads and loads of peak-of-freshness, super-delicious, super-healthy food?

I've tried without much success to capture the middle "row" of the garden.  There is a 3ftX3ft raised bed there in the foreground which contains three broccoli plants planted on a diagonal, with two red cabbage plants in the remaining corners.  Interplanted among them are the Scotch dwarf kale, several types of lettuce, many of which have been cut and grown back as the broccoli and cabbage have matured, and marigolds.  The stuff in that bed is reaching the CROWDED stage and the dwarf kale is being shaded by the large broccoli and cabbage plants, but is still doing fine.

Behind that bed are two other beds side by side.  One contains two bean towers, placed on the diagonal, with two broccoli plants in the opposing diagonal blocks. The other one has a determinate tomato plant, a bean tower, and three broccoli plants.  As you can see, I plant intensively.  No space is wasted.  As things mature, I remove items that seem too crowded, eating them as I do.  If appropriate, I have also been known to sacrifice things for the good of other things.  I have removed three broccoli plants over the spring and summer for this reason. I am left with seven broccoli plants now from an original ten, which is more than I've ever grown before. I feel especially accomplished, because I started these from seed this spring, so the cost for all this is minimal.  And if you believe that [the cost is minimal], I have a bridge.....

  Here is the western edge of the garden, again facing north, at 7 p.m.   

Remember the original bed of beets I planted with onions around the perimeter?  They're still going great guns.  I've thinned them over time, eating the thinnings as greens, and recently gave them a feeding of liquid kelp.  Mmmmm, they were so happy.

This is the summer mesclun mix I planted for the Garden-Along.

Romaine in a pot (more Garden-Along produce)

This is one wicked good-looking red cabbage. See the ruffly kale at about 10:00 in the photo?  And the marigolds and leafy lettuces around it?  That kale was chopped and frozen on Sunday, but it will grow back.

Broccoli is just starting to head.

Broccoli and cabbage from a little farther distance, with a little dill on the (right) side.  (that's the ferny, frilly stuff there)

I was concerned for a while that I had mistakenly planted bush beans rather than pole beans near the bean towers, because they were not vining, grabbing on, and climbing.  I was upset at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, because they don't label their seeds very well.  They just say, for example, "Old Homestead (Kentucky Wonder) Bean," without saying on the package whether it's a pole or a bush bean.  This bugs me.  When I'm out in the garden planting, I'm not always going to have memorized which bean is a bush or a pole.  Thankfully, I got it right, and now all the beans have remembered what to do and have started climbing their respective towers.  Phew.  I will not have to rain my wrath upon Baker Creek.

Comments

[Kristen]

Oh man. Ohmanohmanohman. You sure do know how to make a woman all hot and bothered!

[Sibylle]

ooh I can I please come over and live in your garden? :)

[margene]

You know how to pack a ton of good stuff into a small space. It's a very pretty, and amazing garden!

[Jackie]

Your garden is so neat. Almost makes me want a larger piece of property to garden but still haven't tamed my small urban yard. Hope you have a large freezer as it appears that you will have a bountiful harvest.

[marianne]

What a gorgeous sight to have first thing in the morning! and yes, fresh dew on the tootsies. heavenly. 'Norma, Goddess of Garden Bounty'. It's just beautiful, thanks for the walkabout.

[jessica~]

Wow, that is such a beautiful garden! So plentiful (and so much work, I'm sure!!). I'm so motivated by your gardening. Thanks for sharing!!!

[Carol]

Gorgeous! Are you doing crop rotation?

[KnittyOtter]

Holy Shit that is a fantastic Garden, Norma!! :D

If I could get my shit together I could do something kinda like that. Well part of it. Some of that would just burn up to a crisp here before it had a chance. I may have to come up with a plan for next year. I wonder if your garden supply people have a solution to provide shade to an over exposed sunny area... I will have to look into this...

Thanks for a look at your awesome garden and for the growing inspiration you have given me. :D

*OtterHuggles*

[elizabeth a airhart]

great garden and great pictures
if you are going for a prize you get the blue ribbon

[Lucia]

Yum! I guess I should plant those seeds I bought before it's totally too late.

[heather]

ha - i routinely get caught by the neighbors as i check out the vegetable garden (coffee in hand) in my bathrobe or other likely-inappropriate pajama wear first thing in the morning too. glad to know i'm not alone on that one.

[Melanie]

Love this. I've been reading your gardening posts with great interest and not a little envy (I live in the woods of NH. Insufficient sun and a plethora of veggie-loving fauna). However, since I love fresh veggies, especially if they're local, I signed up with a CSA. I now have two turnips and two parsnips and I've no idea what to do with 'em. If you've got any tried and true recipes you'd care to share, I'd be very grateful.

[Elizabeth]

That is one impressive garden.
I am green with envy. (groan)

Luckily there is no neighbour near enough to see me when I do my garden check in the morning. I started this automatically. I never thought that everyone rushes out to check their veggies. Whew. I can uncheck one eccentricity.

My bean poles are sticks which have twine crossed between them. I thought it looked very amateurish and rustic but I actually get complements on it. Very funny.

I am in awe of those tomatoes. So big already!

[anne]

wow, that's amazing .. what an array; i love all the leafy stuff.
and norma, you totally need a couple of what my grandma called her "housecoats"; those inexpensive, knee-length, dimestore seersucker garments with snaps down the front that have a yoke, short sleeves (or sleeveless) and can be washed and dried about a thousand times. she wore those all morning (and sometimes all day) while she cleaned, cooked and gardened. often the hair was wrapped up or in rollers all this time . . . she only really "got dressed" to go out anywhere, after a shower, of course. and she always looked stunning when she did.

[My Merino Mantra]

I'm so jealous. WHERE are the deer footprints? I'll be happy to send you some deer.