Garden bed two, Feb 20. Left back: "Husky Red Cherry" tomato. Right back: "Lavender Cotton" herb plant (not edible, but smells and looks lovely). Middle - red onion transplants. Front left: orange and multicolored marigolds, lavender plant, romaine lettuce surrounding onion plant from last year, yellow marigolds interspersed with collard greens. Also, "Fuel" for Heather, in the form of Diet RC.
Garden bed 4, before I started work. The back left is a "citrosa" scented geranium. Back right is a prostrate rosemary and a "Georgia" collard. Middle left is red onion transplants, middle bed is potted lime balm, front left is a collard transplant, middle front is german thyme, and front right is a collard plant I harvested today to make room for some Swiss Chard.
Garden bed 3 when I started work. Notice the flat of plants I bought Wednesday, mainly lemon thymes, chard, and some red lettuce transplants. The tomato in the back left is a “Juliet” red grape type. My shadow covers 4 romaine transplants, and the small green plans in the front left corner are collards. White onion transplants in the middle right border.
Garden bed 5 - probably the worst one I've got. The fence fell down on it during the hurricane. That's why I've got the new fence and the tilty back supports. My supports actually kept the fence from crushing a pepper plant that lived for a few more months. I harvested the onions in the front and ate them for dinner. Tasty.
Garden bed one is only 3 feet deep by 4 feet wide. I like to use it for salad plants. You can see the “spicy greens” I transplanted yesterday are doing well. I put up the plastic fence to protect them from damage by BAD CATS who like to lie on little baby plants. I have a “Homestead” tomato - bred in Florida, does well in Houston, large-fruited, in the back left corner. Parsley on the right, and a collard plant is obscured by my shadow. Another collard can be found in the front left corner, the larger-looking plant at the corner of the two borders.
A side view of garden bed 4, showing the rosemary in the back left, “citrosa” scented geranium in the front , spicy green leftover transplant, onion transplants (white onions), lime scented balm looking comfy in the middle, thyme in middle right, and a collard in the front right corner. This photo was taken while standing between beds 3 and 4. I have 2-3 foot wide paths between each bed for easy access.
Front view of garden bed four, after I planted the “Bright Lights” chard. I set up a little 4 inch pot of transplants as an example of what I planted. I did 6 transplants, various reds, a pink, and some goldens. Front right corner. My “german” thyme is in the middle. I use the rulers to determine proper spacing, and I've spoiled the soil enough that my plastic hand trowel and my hands are all I need for diggin.
You probably won't be able to see them, but I planted a row of “Volcano” red lettuces from front to back, in garden bed 4. I still had plenty of transplants left, as you can see from the pot.
A close-up view of the chard transplants in Garden Bed 4.
Heather attacks garden bed 5, planting red lettuce transplants around the collards. Still plenty of leftovers in the pot. Note more cat-proof fencing so they don't lie on the plants. Bad cats.
A wider view of bed 5. I've transplanted some chard behind the pink ruler. I think the red lettuce shows up a little better here.
I took the fence down out of bed one to get a better photo. The transplants look great. Note the “empties” - I love my diet rc when working in the garden. There's an old adage “The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow”. I guess they'll do fine then. :)
Bed three again. Notice the flat is pretty depleted now, and my nifty rolling garden cart in the background. I sit on it as I'm planting, it even has a cupholder. The plants in the middle of the bed are some “Asian Greens” I plan to transplant to that location tomorrow.
Remember the onions I pulled out of bed 5? They were delicious.
Pot roast, freshly cooked this morning. It was tasty.
A side view of garden bed 5, taken 2-21. Chard transplants between the two rulers, two collards on the left border, and leftover red lettuce transplants in the 6-pack.
A better view of the red lettuce transplants in garden bed 5. “Leftovers” in the plastic 6-pack will be given away at work tomorrow.
Garden bed one transplants. The red lettuce and a red chard were transplanted to the spot where the pot's located. Various “Asian green” transplants were taken out of a 4 inch pot like the one shown - a good bargain for $1.50!
Garden bed 3, after transplanting the spicy greens. I got 7 transplants and enough room for one of my chard. Note the only unplanted item is my little bay tree. I'm very pleased with this bed, everyone is very happy. I transplanted a single row of onions to the middle of the bed, from left to right, behind the greens. Onions deter pests that would otherwise bother the “brassica” greens.
My idea of a good time. Filthy hands and a happy garden bed. :)
Garden bed one again, after transplanting a red lettuce, red chard, lemon thyme, and mulching the bed.
Look at that soil! I dug some out of a bed and put it in a bucket. It's beautiful. When we bought the house, the clay was so awful I could make a ball, throw it against the fence, and watch the ball stick. Now it's easily dug, soft and luxurious.
This is what I found when I came inside. Frosty loves that hat so I leave it on the couch for him. That's “His” cushion.
