ResidentCelt's Garden 2014

[ResidentCelt]

Alright, it's more than 2014, the pics start in September 2013 to show what it looked like at first.

I don't have tons of pics and they're not the greatest since I took them on my phone, but you can see enough to get the idea.

I'm in the northern Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, zone 6b/7a

Starting with September 2013:

3 apple trees (unknown variety), a lemon tree, and grape vines (probably Niagara) were already here.


gotta run, but I'll post more later.

[ResidentCelt]

Still in September 2013...

This is on the other side of the line of trees, where I'm putting in the garden. You can see where I started to dig up the grass. I was using an old garden hose to mark out the outline of where I wanted to dig.

[ResidentCelt]

March 2014...

I retrained the grapes so that they would trellis along stuff instead of running down the middle of the yard. The yard was a muddy mess. I had to add some dirt to raise up a bunch of low spots and then seeded with white clover and chicory. I built the arbor out of wood from a tree that was shading the garden until I took it down. The grapes are now trained over the arbor and also trained along a fence the other direction.


And here is the arbor up close


the other side of the tree line


And now the fenced in garden area with straw over cardboard to kill the grass and prep the beds. The soil is a nutrient-rich but dense clay. I was hoping the earthworms would help loosen things up, which they did somewhat. I did this before winter but didn't take pictures until March. I also only had about half the beds prepped this way. The other half I ended up just dumping tons of compost about 6 inches or more on top of the grass and straw on top of that. No grass got through but the compost wasn't sterilized so I got a nice field of weeds with only a handful of the things I planted actually sprouting: best compost harvest I've ever had

[ResidentCelt]

June 2014...

Some nice bee balm


Now with everything green...


Tomatoes and peppers - bell and banana. By this point I had made this bed at least into a hugelkultur style bed (dug down some, but also raised about 1.5 feet). Later I added a few basil plants.


The slightly rust colored stuff in the middle of the picture on the left is a red leaf lettuce. I forget the exact variety. There's also kohlrabi, carrots, spinach (failed), some strawberries, bush beans (something ate most of them), pumpkin, 3 varieties of muskmelon (failed completely), and butternut squash. I can't remember when, but somewhere in there I planted Swiss chard, tobacco, kale, and a small mound of potatoes.









More tomatoes and pole beans. Eventually planted watermelon (failed), tomatillos, and cilantro there too.


A plum tree and apple tree behind the garden. Many of the branches on the apple got dark and hard. Not sure what happened there. Neighbor's chemlawn might've affected it.

[ResidentCelt]

July 2014...


Sunflower, third generation I've raised.



The far side I never finished describing. Also included beets (failed completely), salsify, michihili cabbage (ick) and Golden acre cabbage (we liked this variety), corn (something ate it all, probably deer), fennel, pickling cukes (made good relish), more sunflowers, pattypan squash, peas, more lettuce, arugula, some more pole beans




The corn as I found it...

[ResidentCelt]

One more. It's now Christmas Eve Eve and I just pulled up a giant bundle of salsify and a few carrots that were still in the ground.

[sshickson]

Your pictures make wish I had started mine sooner! 

[ResidentCelt]

Hey, it's never too late Also, look into fall gardening. Everyone discounts it, but it's just as productive for many things (not so much peppers and tomatoes) but plenty of other things. Right about now is when you should start getting seeds to start indoors for cooler weather crops (I'm zone 6/7)

[sshickson]

Hey, it's never too late Also, look into fall gardening. Everyone discounts it, but it's just as productive for many things (not so much peppers and tomatoes) but plenty of other things. Right about now is when you should start getting seeds to start indoors for cooler weather crops (I'm zone 6/7)

I have seeds arriving this week! Since I have 30 raised boxes I have a lot of ground to cover. I live in zone 8b/9a and I have decided to try:

3 varietites of lettuces
Garlic
Shallots
Potatoes
2 varieties of Corn
Carrots
Sugar Beets
Great Northern Beans
Blue lake Green Beans
Spaghetti Squash
Butternut Squash
Turnips
Cucumbers
Mustard Greens
Spinach
Broccoli
Cabbages
Dill
Celery
Green Peas
Cilantro
and Snow Peas

My hubby and I are planning of building a greenhouse in August so that I can keep my tomatoes and peppers going this winter and get a jump on the spring planting next year. I can also keep canning thru the winter!