In town I dreamed of having a huge garden. A truckpatch is what we called it growing up. But, being sandwiched into a town lot with the need to have a backyard for the kids (my wife nixed the idea of tilling up the entire backyard), all we ever had was a 6' x 15' mostly shady spot.
Then we moved to Sycamore Hill. With more lawn than I could possibly enjoy mowing, I set out to create a giant garden. The original plan was to have it 50' x 80'. People thought I was crazy, so I downsized to half that and plowed under a patch of grass 50' x 40'. And then we brought in a disk. And then I tilled and tilled and tilled.
Then we planted our seed and I tilled and tilled again. And then we weeded, and weeded. And the rains came and the garden burst forth with great bounty.
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Today the garden is more jungle than garden. I've never seen 5 ears of corn develop on a single stalk. I've never seen watermelons literally take over a garden, nor have I ever witnessed gourd vines grow 20' from their source. We have been blessed with abundance here on the Hill and have been secretly stashing zucchini and cucumbers away in visitors' autos before they leave the farm.
This was taken about a month ago-you should see it now!
Believe it or not I have great plans for expanding the garden a few feet in each direction. With the bounty we've experienced thus far, we're thinking pumpkins next year. And not just a few. The beginnings of an orchard goes in this fall.
3 comments:
Fantabulous. Next thing you know, the kids will be earning college tuition at the produce stand beside the road.
Actually....they've earned about $10 pawning lemonade, cucumbers and zucchini already. They've got a long way to go though!
Wow! Shows how long it's been since I was out last. I think it would be awesome to have some apple trees out there. We had a couple pear trees at one of our houses when I was growing up and the pears were always awesome. Shake one loose, wash it, eat. Oooh, and a vineyard would be cool too! Although I don't know about the climate. Haha, all of this is easier said than done, I'm sure.
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