Hopes for the Garden

Memorial Day is the traditional time to plant the garden here in New England.  That day came and went and I continued on with bronchitis.  One thing after another (weather, illness of others in the family, etc.), and still the garden remained unplanted.  Finally, last week, we planted.  I have no idea if we’ll get any crops this year.  Here’s hoping for a warm autumn of extended growing time.

From my plan sketched in the middle of winter, we staked off the garden into beds.  I like the idea of raised beds, but I really don’t want to invest in the wood for them or the soil to fill them, nor do I like the permanency of them.  So each year, I just reconfigure everything to meet that year’s garden needs, drive short stakes in the corners of the “beds”, and then rope each area off with twine.  So far, this method has worked great for us.  Perhaps when I find a design I really love, I’ll be ready to put up a permanent, picket fence.  Here’s what the garden looked like with the black plastic down and the stakes and twine done.  I love the symmetry of this year’s plan!

Plants went in next.  Many were my long-neglected, spindly seedlings.  And the others were purchased from a local, organic, no-GMO grower.

Then, Max spread a layer of straw over it all.

Finished.  Now all it has to do is grow…quickly!