Gardens

There is a big garden area right in front of the pond that the elderly neighbor has been growing his garden in for YEARS.  Since the property used to belong to his daughter, he was free to use it and the water in the pond.  He had lots of tomatoes, and okra!  I'm NOT a fan of okra, but what a beautiful plant!  The flowers are stunning and the leaves are huge and gorgeous!  After the garden was played out, he let me know that he was digging a new garden closer to his house, and I was free to use it however I wanted to.  (LOL!!  Yeah, it's MY land now.  I was willing to let him use that space, but he's quite happy with his new plot!)  He also let me know that I could use the areas adjacent, which is a continuation of the garden, but on his land.  Cool!!  I put some compost on the rows and added a layer of duck poop straw on top to finish the winter out.  I still need to go finish the rest of the rows on his property. 

In addition to the established gardens, I decided to build some new plots closer to our house.  I built two on the North-East side of the house that I will probably put red and golden raspberries into.  The guy at the nursery told me they would be ok in afternoon/evening shade, so I'm hoping they will flourish there.  I am also adding some to the yard directly beyond the patio area.  Here is my process: 

My first step is to lay down very wet cardboard to be a weed killer and establish a base for the garden.  It will only take a couple weeks for it to degrade to the point where roots of what I plant can go through it.  This is followed by about 5-6" of compost.

 Hmmm... I thought I had taken more pics, BUT... The 5-6" of compost was followed by a thin layer of duck poop straw, followed by  6" or so of mulch, more poo straw, then another 4" or so of compost, followed by about an inch of mulch for a top layer.

Last layer of mulch going on the top.

Here are the 3 beds I have completed in the back.  The far one (that I showed you in the previous pics) is going to be my tomato garden this summer.   I have an arch between the closest and middle garden that I plan to plant cucumbers and squash to climb up and over. I'm so excited!