I’ve been talking about the garden but I haven’t shown you many pictures. Here it is, then, a pictorial romp through the garden. Any one of these photos could be the subject of a whole ‘nother blog.

 

The front yard garden in July of last year.

My village has got ordinances against all kinds of things, including showing affection on public streets, but there’s no ordinance against having a vegetable garden in the front yard. Good thing because the back yard has low ground and gets awfully wet in a rainstorm. We put a hedge around three sides so no one would be offended by whatever gardening paraphernalia we put out there.

 

 

The back yard garden in July of last year.

There are two raised beds in the back. Because of the often damp ground we expand the growing area with bins and pots.

 

 

Howdy. Here I am in my $30 straw hat, holding a pepper.

I think my hat makes me look like I belong in the Australian Outback or an Indiana Jones movie. My wife, who bought me the hat, has a different opinion. I thought the hat should’ve cost about $12. She said I wouldn’t want to be seen in the ones that cost $12. I know exactly what she means, the kind my grandmother used to wear.

 

 

Alayna Rose, artist & gardener. Also my wife.

I’ve known Alayna for 30 years. Here she picks a bagful of Swiss chard to freeze for winter. Growing to the left of her are Hidatsa pole beans for drying. A bush-type bean, Arikara, grows in another part of the garden. Behind her are brandywine tomatoes.

 

 

Richard Halasz, diligent garden worker, worm meister.

I’ve also known Richard for 30 years. He’s standing in front of the brandywine tomatoes. Before he started gardening, he didn’t have a bean vine growing out of the top of his head. The shirt he’s wearing is his own design. Richard is our wheatgrass growing expert and worm wrangler, among other things.

 

 

Cascading rain barrels.

We’ve got 11 rain barrels. We pump the rain water to irrigate the gardens. Plans are to do all of the watering with drip irrigation, someday.

 

 

A handful of the thousands and thousands of our red wiggler worms.

Some of the worms that Richard wrangles.

 

 

Seedlings in coldframe in the springtime.

This is one of two coldframes made out of old storm windows I got for free. There are tomato, onion, broccoli and calendula seedlings and more inside. The two foot height of the coldframes makes them handy for lengthening the season of full-grown plants.

 

 

Yellow of Parma onions on the top of the photo with Long Red Florence below.

A couple of the heirloom vegetables we grew this season. Broccoli was the only non-heirloom plant we grew this year.

 

 

The tomato vines behind me are a foot taller than they were when Richard stood in front of them a month before.

Hope you liked the pictorial. We’ll be working to share some how-to’s about coldframes, extending the season on both ends, vermiculture, making things for the garden from junk, and more.