I like writing about gardening. It's helpful for me to track progress; I like looking back at early photos and seeing how our little plant babies have grown. I like being able to share how our plants are doing with other gardeners (can I call myself a gardener?), and I like trying to find words to describe the magic and wonder of planting things in the ground that later become food. It's pretty special.
And so, a few weeks late, here's a little bit about what we've planted this year. Once again, we hit up a combination of the Edible Schoolyard and Berkeley Horticulture. And this year, we decided to experiment with mulch! It's been such a dry season, and California's in a pretty major drought, so I figured anything we could do to help our soil retain water would help. Plus, I hear that mulch is good for repelling pests like the snails who end up terrorizing our plants. We went with cocoa shell husk, because omg you guys it smells like chocolate. Also, it's pretty, and it wasn't expensive, and I'd never heard of it before. I like to just try things, ya know?
In this year's garden:
- Tomatoes (5 varieties; 6 plants)
- Beans (2 varieties; 12 plants)
- Sugar snap peas (6 plants)
- Lettuce (2 varieties; 3 plants)
- Dill (6 plants)
- Basil (6 plants)
- Peppers (5 varieties; 10 plants)
- Rainbow chard (6 plants)
- Squash (2 varieties; 2 plants)
- Beets, Carrots, Fennel and Radishes (from seed; # plants unknown)
Without further ado, the photos!
Soil turned. Compost added. Planter box filled. Look how beautiful that soil looks! Date: May 9, 2015 |
The plants are in the ground! I repeat: the plants are in the ground! Date: May 10, 2015 |
A week later - progress! Some of our seeds have started sprouting, and things are looking pretty stable. Date: May 16, 2015 |
And there you have it. The backyard garden, circa 2015! We did some thinning today, because as you can see, the sprouts were coming in a little thick. More on that to come. Happy gardening! What are you planting this year?
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