Old People's Garden

In years past, we had a huge garden.  But as we got older and life got busier, it became almost impossible to keep up with the weeding.  And once sewage came through, we could no longer afford to water the garden so our produce yield wasn't worth the effort.  After we put the roof over the deck, we wanted some way to keep "critters" out from under the deck.  We decided to build beds with landscape timbers.  It works out pretty well, it's a small area to weed, and we don't have to bend over as far to pick the veggies.  Here's a look at this year's garden.  Click the pictures for a better look.

This is the bed of peas, with an errant canteloupe plant that just moved in.  We have already had one meal of the peas, and there's another waiting in the refrigerator.  There are still more pea pods on the vines, and the grandkids and I love eating them raw, fresh from the pods.

This bed is home to our green and wax bean plants.  They're really crammed in there, but it doesn't leave much room for weeds.  My mouth is anxiously awaiting the first pot of ham and beans.

This bed was Izzy and Jake's make-believe garden.  They had a great time digging in there before Pappy planted the kohrabi and lemon cucumbers in there.  The lemon cucumbers are new for us this year.  They are shaped like a lemon, and are supposed to have a milder flavor. There are some sweet pepper plants in there as well. What we didn't realize was that Jake and Izzy had planted seeds from a rotten pumpkin that they had found.  We haven't thinned anything out, because we frankly don't know what are pumpkin vines and what are the cucumbers. Time will tell.

This bed is the one where we planted two types of summer squash, and it appears that the kids planted some pumpkin seeds here also.  We usually plant golden zucchini, which have a milder taste and thinner skin than the green.  This year I bought seeds for a zucchini that is light green with a yellow tip.  It looked interesting, and I like to try something new each year.

This is our tomato bed.  It looks like kind of a shamble right now.  We have planted lemon pear tomatoes (which are the size of a grape tomato), we planted Lemon Girl and Big Boy tomatoes, and we also planted some Roma tomatoes.  They have blossoms, but no fruit yet.

And last but not least, a new addition this year.  This bed is sandwiched between two lilac bushes and lemon lilies, and is home to some bush baby lima  beans.  In the past, we've not had good luck with lima beans because they have a longer growing season.  But this variety is bred with a shorter growing season, so we're giving them a try.

So there's our Old People's Garden.  As we grow older, we plant to add another row of landscape timbers.  That way as we age, we don't have to bend over as far!