The Garden Thus Far

This picture is what the old garden looked like less than a month ago.

I had purchased some cold weather plants but they practically froze in the house with those single digit temps. I babied them and they are still alive but I figure I am about 2 weeks behind getting them out. I am not panicking too much since we are still getting nights at freezing temps but I do need to get busy. Since I am right at the edge of the National Park and at a higher elevation I am sort of Zone 5 and Zone 6. In years when winter moves out early, I am more Zone 6 but this year I think it is definitely going to be a Zone 5 winter in these mountains.

The Lowe's order arrived Wed morning - three pallets full. I hauled and dragged fencing, lattice, bales of straw, steel gates and fence posts around as I tried to get everything organized. I was pretty much exhausted but this is how the garden looked at the end of the day.

The green striped tarp is covering the bales of straw for mulch (and bedding for the dog houses). I am moving the garden about 60 feet from the old location near the back corner of the trailer because there was not much afternoon sun and the morning sun didn't arrive until about noon. I have a little more sunlight here and have some friends coming who will help clear out some of the scrub trees seen in the back of the pic to give more afternoon sun. That should give me enough hours for my sun heavy crops.

The silver role of fencing in the front of the pic is 330 feet of field fencing. It has wide squares near the top and narrow ones at the bottom so it will be fine for the dogs - keeping them in the yard and out of the garden.

The garden will cover from about 4 feet to the right of the wheelbarrow and about 4 feet to the left of the concrete blocks. I believe I will be able to fit in 6 rows stacked on blocks plus two 4"x4"x6' high frames on the right for my hanging tomatoes, beans and sunflowers. I also want to put 2 or 3 of the 4x4's at the far end of the garden for hanging baskets that would be high enough that they would not block the sun to the rows.

Since I have been house bound I have ordered a lot of things plus friends have been bringing me boxes of food. I had broken down all of the boxes to haul to the dump when it hit me - they would be perfect for lining the rows!! So, I finished two rows Friday and this gives you an idea of how things will look.

Sat evening brought pouring rain and it will continue until Wed. I can't say that I am sad about it. I was so sore Sat I could barely get anything done. I spent Sun and part of Mon in bed but am feeling better tonight. I even managed to sort some seeds, do a little housework and read a couple of my gardening books. I will try to get a little laundry done today and be ready to hit the garden again when the rain moves out Wed. If it is not too windy I might even set up my umbrella and try to work a little.

A note: Gurney's, Burpee's and Park Seeds are running big clearance sales. If you are wanting some extra goodies, now is a great time to jump in and buy. I still want to order a couple of things from Burpee tomorrow - there were a couple of things that are Burpee exclusives that I just have to have LOL. Otherwise I have way more than I can use and will even be making up packets of the extras to take to friends at church Sunday.

Happy Gardening
Linda B in TN:)