Monday, December 1, 2008

Done Digging for Now!

Look - the garden beds are in! We did the final 5 hours of moving soil around – taking some out of the yard entirely (about 8 wheel barrows worth) and getting the beds shaped. This pic shows both planting areas – well there are really four planting areas.

At the top of the photo at the edge near the neighbors yard is a sunken bed the will help manage the water that runs off the north east corner of my roof. That water will help deep water the female Mulberry Tree (gives me berries in the spring) as well as the future mini apple orchard.

The bed below it is for the edible garden. I transplanted the salvia from the pots on the porch to create a perspective so my neighbors could see these are gardens, not mud pits!
I threw a mix of about 10 different kinds of flower and veggie seeds into the dirt which I had amended with really great organic mulch (from Ken Singh). Then I covered the seeds with more mulch and watered everything down really well with compost tea. The seeds have started to sprout (after about a week). I am really excited for them to turn into a riot of plants, all growing and blooming at different times.

Then this sunken ‘pit’ is to manage the water that runs off the porch roof (could be up to 200 gallons in a one inch rain!) and where I will plant a desert tree for shade for the house and the garden.



Now, I get to just sit back and water the beds and watch them for the next 30 days or so. Well, not really sit too much. I still have the brick edging to install and a brick patio, but I feel like the push is done to get the seeds into the ground so they could germinate.

I got it all done just 2 days before the Thanksgiving rain of ’08. It was great to see Mother Nature provide the water and then the sun.

This is not the end of my journey, just the beginning of new front yard adventures. I am already planning what to plant next spring!

Happy Digging,

Doreen Pollack
www.down2earthgardens.com

Labels

AZ vegetable gardens (12) arizona gardening (12) compost (10) Garden Goddess (9) Down 2 Earth Gardens (8) Phoenix (7) permaculture (6) vegetable Gardens (6) AZ (5) bermuda grass removal (5) community garden consultant (5) edible gardens (5) gardens (5) monsoon rains (5) Garden planning (4) seed saving (4) Community Gardens (3) Companion planting (3) Garden design (3) Soil (3) apple trees (3) beets (3) computer garden design tools (3) desert (3) fall planting (3) herbs (3) low desert gardening (3) low desert winter gardens (3) mosquitoes (3) mulching (3) rain harvesting (3) Garden Maintenance (2) Gardening tips (2) Master Gardeners (2) Rain barrels (2) Squash Bugs (2) Swiss Chard (2) Three sisters garden (2) amending soil (2) apple (2) basil (2) bats (2) citrus (2) design (2) earth day (2) edible (2) flowers (2) gardening (2) green peppers (2) mint (2) nematodes (2) pruning (2) rain guage (2) rosemary (2) soil secrets (2) sustainable gardens (2) tomatoes (2) tree (2) "Bill McDorman" (1) ARMLS (1) African marigolds (1) Blossom End Rot (1) Christmas Cactus (1) Clay (1) Coirn (1) Companion planting. (1) Contest (1) Cornville (1) Corriander seed (1) Deswrt gardening (1) Doreen Pollack (1) Double digging (1) Fall garden clean up (1) Fall gardens (1) Gambusia (1) Garden Tools (1) Garden books (1) Garden workshops (1) Grden Journals (1) Healing Gardens (1) Heirloom seeds (1) Home Staging (1) Humus (1) Japanese beetles (1) Johnny Jump-ups (1) Kohlrabi (1) Loam (1) Mesquite Flour (1) Microorganisms (1) Phoeniz (1) Pole Beans (1) Red amaranth (1) Sand (1) Sierra Club (1) Slow Food Phoenix (1) Soil Food Web (1) Squash (1) Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes (1) Toby Hemenway (1) Tree Pruning (1) Wildlife habitats (1) amaranth (1) artichoke seeds (1) bachelor button (1) bermudal grass removal (1) bird netting (1) bok choy (1) broccoli rabe (1) brussel sprouts (1) bugs (1) cilantro (1) compost. bugs (1) corn cups (1) cutworms (1) dandelion greens (1) digging (1) dirt (1) earthworks (1) eating from the garden (1) edible cactus (1) edible container garden (1) feeding fruit trees (1) fertilizer (1) fleas (1) flies (1) flower gardens (1) food (1) frost (1) fruit trees (1) garden (1) garden bed preparation (1) garden coaching (1) garden disease control (1) garden journal (1) gardening quiz (1) grass (1) green (1) green beans (1) green features (1) green gift giving (1) grren beans (1) harvesting (1) heirloom (1) holloyhocks (1) home selling (1) how much to plant (1) infections (1) injury in the garden (1) ladybird (1) ladybud (1) lavender (1) leafy greens (1) leaves (1) lettuce (1) mosquities (1) mosquito control (1) mycorrhizae (1) native foods (1) native seeds (1) natural mosquito repellant (1) natural mosquitoe repellant (1) new garden (1) olive trees (1) on-line garden club (1) oregano (1) palo verd tree (1) pansies (1) peach (1) peach trees (1) peaches (1) permaculture design (1) permaculture design course (1) pest control (1) pesticides (1) plastic (1) poor drainage (1) praying mantis (1) prickly pear (1) professional gardener (1) protecting fruit trees from birds (1) radicchio (1) radishes (1) rain water (1) rain water harvesting (1) ratoons (1) recycle (1) root rot (1) second crop (1) soil building (1) soil secrets. nitrogen (1) soil testing (1) southwest vegetable gardens (1) spinach (1) squash vines (1) stock (1) summer (1) sunflower (1) sunflowers (1) surface water (1) sustainability (1) sweet peppers (1) tilling (1) tomato (1) transplant (1) trash (1) trees (1) vegetable (1) vegetablvegetable Gardens (1) violas (1) water use (1) waterharvesting (1) watering a garden (1) weather (1) wildflowers (1) wind (1) xeriscape plant (1) year-round gardening (1)