This January has been a bit of a joke really. It seems winter forgot to come this year! And while we in California are facing harsh seasons ahead during this epic drought I can't help but find a happy lining in it all as we have been spending our days in the yard. There is a daunting list of to dos in front of us and if we want to actually accomplish all of it then these extra days of work worthy weather need to be utilized. Oh but it turns out working in the garden with a 4yr old and 2yr old is hardly productive at all so this head start is welcomed on that note, too. (I'd trade it for some rain or better yet, snow though!)
Anyhow.... Our existing garden consists of one large 3 sectioned bed and 5 3x6 foot beds as well as 2 3x3 ft boxes containing blueberry bushes.
view from the "terrace" above the garden/landing
that little red roof is the chicken coop.
It is a shameful confession that I must make that last year I let our garden fall to bits. We had a gopher destroy several of our plants, including our long standing artichoke that gave us a prolific yearly yield (Sam had even named "arty") . We also lost several of our plants to a new mite (perhaps a broad mite that was rumored to be spreading around our areas coop gardens) that we had never dealt with before. This mite appeared to be a nutrient deficiency of some kind and we didn't realize was a pest until it was too late and we had not a single melon to show for the season. I gave up! I was tired and annoyed. So I let the garden become a beast...
This beautiful over grown yard of vegetables basically went to waste. Even with the gopher destruction and the mites we were still left with a good quantity of useable produce. We ate all of the carrots and potatoes and the sweet baby vining tomatoes were ravaged by any who went near them. But, I made a couple of mistakes in not researching plant varieties and grew 5 HUGE tomato plants with fruit bearing a gritty texture and no flavor and I selected a variety of pole bean that was tough and well... gross.
This year will be different! I have been researching endlessly about what to plant, varieties, weather hardiness and everything in between. This years garden will be much bigger and FULLY utilized.
See that lovely little landing atop that hill ^^^ up there. That will be the second 1/2 of my garden. Yay! We think (depending on how well we can flatten the area with a tractor) we can squeeze in 10 more beds up there. And, although the lay out of the original garden will not be the sane we will still have the same amount of garden beds in place. I also moved my onions and garlic in to a different area where I will also be putting my pumpkins and a few potato barrels as well (things that the deer don't bother!) My herb garden will be in the back yard this year, also freeing up space in the vegetable area. I am excited to see it come together, but already tired just thinking about it.
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