This year’s garden is modest. Yet, I have 5 varieties of tomatoes. The square pepper bed in back contains 6 Tabasco, 2 Serrano, and 4 varieties of hot chilies. Next up: place pine straw and bark mulch around the beds and cage and stake the tomatoes. I am using a new organic fertilizer (like produce, it cost more than the mass produced chemical types) and am anxious to see how it does. I hoed the beds twice this spring before planting. After several years of adding soil and amendments, there is about 10 inches of good growing medium in the boxes and, of course, below that is good old Georgia red clay.
The Thyme maintain well over this mild winter we’ve had. The Chives are doing great as you can see in the middle bed. A few onions came up which were leftover from last year. I have some dill seed on the ends of both long beds and in the square bed.
The Cascade hops are already climbing the fence and will come in big this year. I harvested nearly a pound last year. There should be plenty for a couple of good brews this year.
Update June 18th, 2016:
Two months have passed since the top photo was taken and it’s been terribly dry so far in this growing season.. Although I am hand watering every other day or so, which most of us know is never a good substitute for a good rain, the plants are still not thriving like they should. It has been very hot early this year. Last week (June 13-17, 2016) it was in the mid 90s most days. Those temperatures are usually reserved for July and August. The tomatoes are finally turning and the high temperatures has taken a toll on the peppers; on the other hand, they’re still producing. It’s still nice to have tomatoes and peppers in the back yard.
