A garden Story Though Pictures

The past two days I was working out at the Ferrel's garden on the east side of town with my buddy, Lindsay. With a busy schedule and a sore back, Kathy Ferrel's garden had grown-over. Here's the story through pictures.

"Lotsa" weeds.

Weeds All Gone!

Garden Planted

Closer up, the before/after is more exciting.

Voila!

As you can tell from the images, Kathy's garden was in-ground. My friend, Lindsay and I working together, we cleared the brush; raked up; transplanted irises, day lilies, agapanthuses, and garlic chives; top dressed the area with greensand (a good remedy for N. Florida soils that tend to be potassium deficient) and compost; shaped the beds; and lastly put seeds and plants in the ground.

In the picture above, you can see the Rosemary in the bottom left-hand corner surrounded by johnny jump-ups (which you can eat). Back behind the rosemary, there's a bed of kale and chard and broccoli. To the left, there's a bed with kale seeds waiting to germinate. Along the far fence there are two short rows of spinach seeds. In the top right-hand corner, we planted an spiral of chard seeds. (I'm so excited about this!) All along the right-hand side of the garden there are root crops planted: turnips, beets, vidalia onions (which you can see), and a row of bunching onions (seeds). Out of sight, behind the camera are a bunch of herbs (parsley, sage, oregano, dill, fennel, and sorrel), mesclun mixes (that's a fancy word for baby-greens like you can buy in a bag at Publix from EarthFare Organics or somebody similar), in addition to more root crops. The whole garden is 10x36, just in case you're wondering.

And FYI, the most critical step following a garden planting is watering. New seeds need water every day until at least a week after they're up. And new plants set into fresh garden: approx 1 week of daily water from the time of planting. After that, unless it's super hot and dry out, you can get away with every other or every third day (taking breaks, of course, if it's raining). Or, an easier way to remember is to simply water every day post-planting for 3 weeks. After that, change to 2-3 times a week. How much and methods for avoiding (just about) all watering altogether will have to wait for another post.

PS- I was loosely following the direction of the BioIntensive Gardening in Kathy's garden. It's worth learning about.

What a garden! Thanks to Kathy for allowing us to create in her space. May there be lots of good eating in the weeks and months to come.

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