Labor of Love

It's exhausting! I've been helping a couple of friends out with their gardens due to circumstance and it is amazing how much work goes into large gardens. While one friend is down with a broken leg and grumbles about only being able to sit an observe and not do all that much and the other is out of town, I've got my hands full! Both declined to have photos of their properties posted on the blog, but that is ok, I'm having fun anyway.

I've learned a lot of what not to do from these two vastly different garden plots. At one, there is a tangle of hoses and plots that do not allow for easy watering. Not that it is bad garden design, just poor garden position. On the flip side, the other garden I'm helping to tend has the T-tape type soaker hose. Very nice stuff, very easy to maintain.

Raised beds are your friend. But we knew that already. I've noticed there is less soil borne disease, even with beds that are a few years old. And if disease does take a foothold, it is more difficult to spread. In ground gardens do not necessarily have that benefit. Its easier on the back, too, at least once it is installed.

Make sure you keep a good schedule. I didn't know when to fertilize. When were they all watered last? How much tomato food did you give these guys last time?

The vast differences in techniques and set ups from two close friends that have the same ideas is just amazing. Both are good set ups, and both have good yields, but the small problems that each combats are vastly different.

Anyway, I'm off to go pick some peas and tomatoes.

Happy gardening!