April 2008
April 15/2008: The side bed at upper right is new this year. I dug a trench along the fence, filled it with old blackberry and laurel branches, and covered it with dirt from what will be the new path. Also: concrete slabs against the bottom of the fence to stop the weeds coming through from next door. The light brown mulch covering the beds is coir which is ground up coconut husks - a pH neutral peat substitute.
April 29/2008: The same view, two weeks later. The red kale has bolted and bloomed... I should cut it back but the bees really like it and I don't have the heart.
April 29/2008: The main part of the garden - there are those kales again on the far right side. Note in the foreground, the beginning of what will someday be a lovely (and tidy) bark mulch pathway.
April 29/2008: The sloping bed in front of the cottage. Last year there were masses of blackberries, but not a single fruit. This year I got revenge and ripped them all out... some of the roots were the size of my head, I swear. The bed already had lemon balm, ferns, and some lilacs, so I re-distributed these around the bed.
April 29/2008: The opposite view. The pile in front of the cottage is bark mulch... I carried it from the front boulevard one bucket at a time (that blue bucket by the shovel) with some help from Kaeli (she had her own bucket).
April 29/2008: My neighbour Andrew and I found this growing under the deck of the house - it's a black morel! Expensive gourmet mushrooms are growing in my yard! Too bad the slugs and sowbugs got to this one first. But where there is one...
May 2008
May 11/2008: I extended the kale/onion bed to line up with the path. The potatoes have sprouted in the bed on the upper left. There are also 5 mystery beans [sweetpeas?] climbing up bamboo stakes... they got badly sunburned on their first days out but appear to be still alive. The kale is having a great time bolting ad the bees seem to like it.
May 15/2008: The bark mulch path is finished!
May 15/2008: A better view of the bed in front of the cottage and the bark mulch path. The brown pots on the path have basil and the white pot is newly planted mesclun mix.
May 20/2008: Built rows into this bed and planted green, yellow and purple beans. The crescent-shaped raised bed with the bamboo stakes now has cucumbers - two "cool breeze" transplants from the farmer's market and also some pickle seeds.
May 20/2008: This is a wasabi (Wasabi japonica). Turns out that almost all of what is served as "wasabi" in restaurants and stores is actually horseradish dyed green, so we are growing our own. We've got a horseradish too, but not in the same bed. I think this little guy is gorgeous. He needs a lot of water and gets wilty a lot. I can't go to work, I have to stay home and water my wasabi, ha ha.
May 20/2008: Blue potatoes (Solanum tuberosum). Also the five mystery beans are alive! And one patty pan squash that will hopefully also climb up the stakes into the tree. We also have onions growing in between the plants, and some baby dill sprouts. Mmm... potatoes and dill and onions...
May 28/2008: We harvested all the leeks but one (letting it go to seed). Then I dug all the dirt out of the bed, and the kale is going to get transplanted there... soon... Isn't that an impressive mound of dirt? I'm sore now.
May 28/2008: Purple bean sprouts (Phaseolus vulgaris).