June 12

I have spent a great deal of time this winter and spring on a big project in the garden.  

I have been covering the paths with cardboard, scrap cloth and mulch.  I have a lot of mulch hauling to do yet but all the paths are covered with the cardboard or cloth.  This has been something I've wanted to do for years.  There used to be grass there. It was obnoxious during the height of growing season.  I was constantly fighting the grass out of the beds.  

Here is a picture from a couple years ago to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. The grass surrounding this bed is how the whole garden was.  

But I have finally won the grass battle!

 

Here are 2 pics of aisles...without grass.  One has the mulch on it and other just cardboard and shredded paper. You'll also notice in the pictures the other thing I have been doing with the beds...bordering them. You can see in the picture above that they didn't have borders either, which is probably the main reason the grass was such a hard battle.  My goal is to border them completely with wine bottles.  It is a fantastic way to recycle those wine bottles!  I get plenty from church.

 

 I have learned that you can cover lawn and grow a garden.  This bean bed (on the right, below) was just a bed of grass 3 months ago.  

I laid down thick cardboard, mulch, dirt and more mulch.  Put a border on it and planted some bean seeds.  Look at them grow.

 
I have one more bed to create.  It used to be a strawberry bed.  But remember that battle with grass, it won over the strawberry bed.  Now I have the tools to win it back.  After I'm done with everything else in here I'll remove this black plastic and build a bed.  Maybe I'll try strawberries again.

Well, here is what's growing in my garden today as of June 12th.

Garlic and cilantro. In the bare area I'm TRYING to grow asparagus.  I've been having a very difficult time of it.  I bought 1 year roots.  Only one grew.  My uncle sent me seed.  A few have sprouted.  I'm planting more.  We'll see.

Here is my bean bed.  This is one of the beds that I've completely lined with wine bottles.  I love it!

Spaghetti Squash.  I really hope it does well. We eat it all the time!

Snap peas for salads and stir fry.

Echinacea

Hops reaching for the sky.

Herb garden.  I have slowly developed this little area and I have more I want to do to make it better.  There is sage, mint, rosemary, lavender, calendula, thyme and oregano.

Here is a close-up of the calendula.  It's one of my favorites.  It is essential for use in salves for any skin ailment.

Tomatoes.  I grow in pots against the house.  They do best this way.

So far it has been a very productive spring.  I'm incredibly grateful for the delightfully warm weather we have had.  I know this may be bad for later but I won't let that darken the joy now.