The Garden: Before and After.

Up close and personal with some eggplant. I love that the stems are purple.

We just expanded the garden area a few weeks ago. It is the sunniest location in our yard so it made sense that we should grow much of our food here. In the beginning we planned to section it off with a white picket fence and a cute little gate. But...since our finances are so unpredictable lately, and we continue to hope for a house in the country SOON, we decided to take the inexpensive and temporary route: chicken wire.

So here it is...the garden in it's beginning stage. Recycled raised beds...originally shipping containers for the sign shop that is next door to our shop. They were in a pile getting ready to be taken to the landfill. Chris came across them and thought they'd be perfect for our raised beds. I agreed! They're pine...so they're not going to last forever. But they WILL last a season or two...which is great for now.

You can also see the large sheet of cardboard. This comes in between the plywood we order from our supplier. Chris saves it and uses it during transport or as a drop cloth of sorts. I asked if I could use some to lay down over weeds...which I didn't do because the boys mowed the weeds...and with no rain they seem to be staying down on their own. So far so good, anyway. Instead, the cardboard became our temporary "gate".

The boys are going to build the real gate this week since they're off for Spring Break. Thank goodness! I've got to keep Reggie out some way so he doesn't mark this as HIS territory.

Here is a view from the deck...chicken wire fence, empty raised beds, a possible layout.

Well, yesterday we got out there...and it went from this...

and this...

...to this.

Neat beds full of a mix of rich soil and manure and sweet little plants.

Below is the left side of the garden. You can see a little mound there in front of the chair...that's a watermelon. Sort of random...but I wanted it to have plenty of room to sprawl out. The planter on the right contains the zucchinis and the eggplant. It's full sun. The planter on the left contains beans and beets. (That I planted while waiting for pasta water to boil. That's how SIMPLE and QUICK it is to plant seeds...what have I been waiting for?!)

The planter up against the fence is empty as of now. I think I'll plant something flowering against the fence and then grow lettuce or kale or something shade tolerant in the rest of the area...it gets a good amount of shade so I think this will work out well.

Here is a view from outside the fence. Up against the wall is the tomatoes. This spot gets full sun, ALL day and it's HOT. I think they'll do well there as long as I am diligent about watering. The planter in front of the tomatoes holds peppers. Then of course, in the forefront, are the zucchinis.

So far I'm happy with how it's coming along. Like Chris said, you can plan and plan and plan all you want, but sometimes you just have to get out there and start working and it will all come together. He was right. It's coming together!