A Garden visitor

"Mom! Mom! You've got to come see this!"

Our visitor was strolling up the path when Samuel spotted him (her?). After our attention, he decided it was time to get moving, and put it into high gear to go hide in the Three Sisters bed by the time I found the camera and made it back out.

The corn stalks are now up to my knees, and the Scarlet Runner beans have started to put out flowers. The squash vines are still short enough that they're standing up, pretty much even with the beans at this point. Sometime soon we hope they'll actually spread out and act as a living mulch.

Our plan for the fall/once we harvest this planting is to widen the bed a bit more, sheet mulch the heck out of it, and plant our late vegetables-kale & broccoli and such.

The living mulch effect is working very well in the densely planted bean beds closer to the patio, and the first of the blossoms are appearing there also. Those beds are scheduled for sheet mulching later this year also.

James is working on forsythia removal these days. Our forsythia hedge hasn't bloomed well in several years, and we're looking for space for more food crops, so . . . Once the forsythia is cleared back to the tree line, we'll sheet mulch that and prepare it for berry crops. We're looking at Nanking Cherries, and maybe some blueberries or goumi or . . .

A few other possible summer projects: a woodfire-heated soaking tub, a small pond above Herb Hill, rainbarrels for all the downspouts, and . . .

Before you consider us too crazy, check out Path to Freedom. This is a family homestead in California that is harvesting 3 tons of fruits & vegetables from the 1/5th of an acre (including the land the house covers!) they own. Of course, 2/3 of their property isn't shaded by their own & neighbors' established trees.