Welcome to 2016

After my hiatus last year to take care of my daughter, I'm back!  It's time to see what my garden can be this year.  It's sad to say that it's only February and I've already spent my whole budget for the year, but I think it will be worth it.  My goal had been to spend this year's budget on amendments instead of plants, but instead, it has all gone to creating a wicking bed on the south side of the house.

The garden is starting to awaken.  Here is what is going on in the garden so far this year...

Flowers

I might actually have some Clematis flowers this year!  3rd year is a charm.  The neighbor is re-doing the fence between our properties that I was starting to grow this vine on, so I'm really glad I had the foresight to grow it on an old chainlink fence in front of the wooden fence instead of directly against it.  

Bishop's Hat is up

Serviceberry is blooming

I planted three types of Daffodil in the fall and there was one more type already planted in the bed.  Three of the four are already up.  I can't wait until I see the fourth in the mix

Food Crops

Raspberries are leafing out.  Sidenote: say goodbye to the hobbled together fence behind the raspberries.  I'm not sure what the replacement fence will look like, but it should be up in a month.

Pear tree has blooms

Raised bed has an addition this year...PVC pipe holding up the netting. Hopefully, it keeps everything from getting caught on the net this year

Projects

Obviously, this is a work in progress. The first image is what the garden on the south side of the house has looked like for the past few years. You can see my potato box and a fenced in area for the garden. While this was a nice, cheap solution for adding to the garden, it did have its issues. No matter what I did, grass just kept creeping in and taking over the usable space. Also, it's hard to keep the moisture away from the house while keeping the bed moist (and the hose doesn't reach well). My solution is to make two wicking beds in place of the one long row.

I plan to use this space for heat loving crops since the proximity to the house keep this bed warmer than the one in the backyard.  Melons and tomatoes have both done well here. Once these beds are complete, they should be relatively self-watering (look up wicking beds to see how it theoretically will work) and easier to maintain.  I'll keep updating as the project moves forward. I only have a few weeks before I want my crops in, so it looks like I'll be spending some time this weekend digging!

This year's "vegetable" garden will consist of:

• Peas
• Suger-snap peas (NEW)
• Broccoli (NEW from seed)
• Lettuce
• Carrots
• Green beans (pole)
• Cucumbers
• Cantaloupe
• Garlic
• Tomatoes
• Corn (NEW)

Already the peas, sugar-snap peas, garlic, and carrots are in the raised bed in the backyard.  The broccoli, lettuce, cantaloupe, tomatoes, and cucumbers are growing inside under the grow-lights.  

I can't wait to see what this year will bring!