Planting Weekend

The long weekend was spent trying to tackle my very first vegetable/flower/herb/plum tree all-in-one bed from scratch.  I found this picture on a magazine several years ago and kept it in my wallet and told myself one day I will make a garden like this.  And my husband and I finally did it!  We already have two plum trees and so we dug up around one of the plum trees.  Below’s the original plan of the plot I was going to do.

 At first it felt such a daunting task so I was going to make a much smaller version.  However when I stopped by Baltimore Valley Garden Centre, I got carried away with the variety of vegetables they sell and they are cheap ($1.50 per cell which contains about 2 to 4 plants).  And the quality of plants they sell are way much better than the big box garden centres.  I couldn’t find sorrel and chives though.  And I have no idea what is sweet cicely.  I ended up with too many marigolds and basil for some reason. 

Below is how my vegetable/flower garden ended up with.  It was a lot of work.  Definitely got a high intensity work out as we didn't use any power tools or tillers.  We dug up the grass using a shovel.  Not quite the same as the magazine clipping I saved.  But hey it's done.  We put a wire mesh around it to protect it from the chickens.  It’s not even attached.  Only one end is tied up to one of the poles. 

I have so many marigolds but it's okay I think since they will protect the tomatoes from pests.  I ran out of mulch so the upper part has the soil still exposed.  I'll finish it this weekend.  And I hope I won't get lazy taking care of these plants.

 And below are some of the plants I have.  There are some purple version of basil but I didn’t get a chance to take a picture. I have squash (acorn, spaghetti, buttercup varieties), tiny tomatoes, thyme, oregano, dill.  My spacing is too close to each other though.  I hope it will still work.

And below's the pictures of the chickens helping (or rather getting in the way) loosen up the soil.