Till, We Meet Again

the near dirt is about half of one bed, making it about 30 feet long. there were zucchini enough to compost, yellow crook-neck squash enough to try them as keepers like winter squash, marigolds galore, kale enough to sate anyone, and bush beans growing here. the beans were a bust.

this dirt and that strip behind it, a full 60 feet long and 3 feet wide, have been limed but not yet fertilized. more garden work could have been easily completed today had i been as mindful of my body as i was of the desired outcome. alas, i operated the rototiller less than ergonomically correctly. lower back pain. i don't blame the machine, as i have enthusiastically and heedlessly wielded a shovel and suffered the same result.

the dirt patch in the foreground will get fertilizer, perhaps a layer of compostable green stuff, and black plastic mulch. then a tunnel cloche. then winter veggies. i'd better ice that sore back. it is kinda late for a winter garden. ok, very late. worst case: the cloche is ready for early spring planting!


these carrots came from the middle of the rear bed in the picture above, about where there is a bit of straw piled just beyond. i planted them in spring, maybe may. gotta get that garden calendar thing going. they are large and not perfectly formed, yet tasty and nutritious. RD made a killer carrot soup today from some of those very carrots pictured on your screen! this pile was one un-thinned row 3 and a half feet long. root crops do very well here.


the long, just tilled, aforementioned, growing bed in the background (from whence the carrots) will be fertilized and then sown with red clover seed. our first green manure crop. RD scored a great book at a garage sale. 25 cents. "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades" by Steve Solomon. wow. we live there. i'll have more to say about Steve and his book. good things.
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