We are continuing to receive free, raw wood chips from the city, twice a month. This has been a real blessing as we discovered that we needed to add an additional 4" to 6" of chips as our initial batch appeared to break down much quicker than we had originally anticipated. We were blessed with so much that we were able to recover the entire garden, including patches previously skipped.
As you can see, the garden is growing beautifully! Even though we have not had a whole lot of rain up here, the ground is still very moist and the plants appear to be thriving. We have several blossoms and a few tomatoes already starting on the tomato plants. We have also been able to enjoy our European salad mix, broccoli and even some of the radishes. Everything tastes wonderful and comes up so clean and easy! We actually have to be careful when clipping our salad greens as the roots want to come up with the rest.
We ate our first little batch of broccoli raw, with a bit of salad dressing. The second batch was tossed into a salad. I guess I did not plant enough broccoli plants this year, as each little harvest has not produced enough to feed our large and growing family. Note for next year: more rows of salad greens and broccoli.
So, what about the weeds...the one dreaded and never-ending chore of gardening? Actually, the results have been as promised. Initially, we did not have a lot of rain and so, we did not have all that many weeds to worry about. In fact, being a novice gardener, I was not always sure what was a weed and what was a producing plant. So I let the weeds grow a little bigger. Once I could tell the difference, I pulled out the weeds - mostly grass and a few others. Overall, it took me about 90 minutes to weed the garden the first time. I did not think that was too bad considering the size of the garden!
Weeding is so easy (once the rows of producing plants could be identified). I simply raked up and down the aisle between the rows, moving and redistributing the wood chips. Any weeds not removed during this process were pulled by hand...usually a couple of dozen per row. And then I walked down the actual plant row and pulled the few weeds between plants. Again, there were hardly any to contend with. It was awesome!
Just for fun, I asked a friend of mine to send me a picture of her garden. We were both weeding the same day. She had finished only a couple of rows in the time it took me to do my whole garden!
I think that she said that this is supposed to be a row of pepper plants....but I can hardly see them. Here is what my row of pepper plants looks like...
I don't have nearly as many plants as she does, but I also didn't have nearly as many weeds! I now only have to weed after a good rain fall. Of course, I pick a few each day as I am walking through the garden harvesting the salad greens, broccoli or radishes. Just random ones that catch my eye. The few that we happen to see pull up so nice and easy, roots and all! This method of gardening has been a real blessing and a treat....especially as we watch our neighbors weed for hours and hours.
About the only problem we have had is with the birds. Initially, they literally picked out of the garden quite a few of my "starter pellets". Note for next year: no starter pellets...just traditional boxes with soil! We were getting concerned that we might not have as many of our plants as we wanted with the flocks of birds that were landing in our garden daily. But then my wonderful husband engineered a solution.
DVDs, CDs, zip ties, fishing line and a few broken fishing poles....
We strung six to eight DVDs and CDs together using the fishing line and a lot of knots. This allows both sides to flash while spinning and rotating. We then secured the fishing line to broken fishing poles and attached them to the fence using zip ties. We have eight of these set up around the perimeter of the garden. Amazingly, they have worked! Since we installed them, we have only seen a lone bird here and there, and then only on cloudy days. On sunny days, these detractors reflect light all over the garden, scaring the birds away. We even have to be a bit careful in the house because they can shine right through our patio doors and catch us off guard!
Anyway, I just thought that I would share a little bit more about this approach.
Congrats on your great garden and thanks for sharing the CD/DVD idea. We hope to fully implement the Back to Eden Garden next year.
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