looking west at row crops. peppers. potatoes. basil/corn. beans/corn. tomatoes. dahlias/zinnias. everything gets drip water. the three closest rows get overhead water too.
this year's new thing. a shadehouse for tender leafy stuff. you can see the raised beds moved to this location here. we began with 30% shadecloth just on top.
one 3x6 bed. chard and kale. we've eaten a lot of kale. the chard got a bad start, burned by the sun. so we put the 30% shadecloth on the side for morning and afternoon sun, and 70% shadecloth on top. the chard perked up. then something began eating the it, leaving the skeletons of the leaves. thinking it was bugs, i dusted with diatomaceous earth. then we notice lesser goldfinches eating the chard! i closed off the remaining openings with bird netting. now we might get to eat some.
the other bed. we have harvested and eaten several lettuces from here already. there is mesclun mix coming up. leafy lettuce that we've eaten. onions from seed from our own onion flowers. carrots and beets. might be a bit crowded. we started with little sprinklers in each corner of each bed and soon saw that overhead watering didn't work. changed to drip lines and all is much better.
love your garden post! Things look great -- it all takes attention and action and adjustments here and there. Good thing you discovered who was eating the chard -- those sneaky little finches!
ReplyDeleteAre you going to move that shadehouse to the other end of your yard simply because YOU CAN?
ReplyDeletemaybe.
ReplyDeleteI do admire your shade cloth garden and hope it isn't too late to try it here. I miss my kale and greens.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know birds ate chard.
OK, you've convinced me. I need to buy your place. And you need to stay there for as long as it takes to teach me to garden the way you do; I'll be happy to limit it by contract to 15 years. Nice post! Nice garden!
ReplyDeleteAre the beds fenced? If we tried to grow a garden, we would have to fence the deer out or they would eat everything.
ReplyDeletequite the small farm!
ReplyDeleteit really is a labor of love, science, and creative problem solving... I'm glad my life does not depend upon the success of my tomato plants!
ReplyDeleteAlways so interesting to see Other people's vegetable gardens and how they handle various problems.
ReplyDeleteLesser Goldfinches eating chard? Wow! You've got some birds with refined tastes--I've never heard of such a thing.
ReplyDeleteTruly, it's a lovely garden. Nice write up.
ReplyDeleteAnd we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.
ReplyDeleteGood work!
Drip! I'm a fan!
ReplyDelete