The Family Garden, 2010

  This is our third year for putting in a family garden.  Rick and I struggle with having much of a garden here  on our property due to the deer, jack rabbits, soil conditions and shade. So, we teamed up with our cousins just down the road a couple of miles away where it’s flat, has good soil, and a shared work load.  The garden has been wonderfully productive. The first year, outstanding! Too many tomatoes,  and uh, of course  too many summer squash.

 The photo below shows the start of spreading 5 yards of mushroom compost onto the beds.  

The second year, we were hit with a frost the first night after transplanting tomatoes, peppers, etc. Later in the season, the tomato wilt disease hit and we lost half of our tomato plants. But the garden was still extremely productive. We gave away to co-workers, seniors, family members, neighbors and anyone else we could think of. I still have jars and jars of pesto in the freezer. Note to self, plant less basil this year. Our cousin Phylis, probably still has butternut squash on her porch. She’s planting fewer butternut squash plants this year.   The photo below, shows her artichoke plant, oregano, garlic chives, and regular chives from her grand daughter K.'s school project.
 

              Those aren't whimpy wheel barrels.    They're industrial size and carry a full heavy load. 

Photo below:   Strawberry bed upper left corner.

The main garden is 35’ by 60’. Then there’s the pumpkin bed, and another bed for melons, and butternut squash. We have paths between the beds and down the center of the garden. The paths are permanent with landscape cloth covered with shredded redwood bark. We installed a drip irrigation system, which really cuts down on wasted water, and work.
 Photo below:     This was all I could do yesterday.  I filled and spread 17 wheelbarrels full of compost yesterday.  After I left, cousin S. (bless his heart) finished the job.   I'm on my way back today to start digging it in.  Perhaps I can get the tomatoes set in today.   We'll see.  Tomorrow for sure!