LANDSCAPING AND GARDENING

We have continued to work on landscaping the new area outside the garden gate and it is really starting to look organized.  Stuart tilled it again and we removed some of the larger loose pieces of sod which is the most work as you have to load the wheel barrow and then haul the load to the back of the shop and dump it on the dirt pile.  Stuart came up with a good idea for getting rid of some of the sod.  He dug large holes where we were going to plant things and put the loose sod at the bottom of the hole, coved it with some dirt and then set the plants in and filled around them with the good dirt.

 Yesterday, he took it one step further and dug a couple of really deep holes where he went below the top soil to the sandy soil that is about 3 feet down.  He put the sandy soil on the walkway through the area to the gate and then buried the sod.  Very efficient.  

We planted ground cover plants in the one area that is close to the sprinkler head so they shouldn’t block the spray when they grow.

The vegetable garden was planted in two stages:  all the seeds went in on May 6 and yesterday, we put in the bedding plants (tomatoes, hot and sweet peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, zucchini, butternut squash and some herbs).  Stuart puts wire cages around the tomatoes and peppers and stakes them up as the plants get very heavy in mid-season.  He also put stakes and criss-crossed strings along the rows of bean to help keep them upright as well.

It all looks rather bare right now but we love to see how it changes from week to week as things start to grow.  The radishes are always the quickest—sprouted in 5 days!!