Then and Now

Just to show you how our garden grows...here are pictures starting in the beginning of April, going through May and June until today. We started out with just seed packets and a lot of hope that everything would work out. After just over a month in the greenhouse we were able to move outside and with lots of compost and hard labor we got the ground ready for planting. You can see how much the plants have enjoyed being outdoors from the beginning of June when we didn't even have the squash planted to today when the zucchini plants are huge! We've harvested Kale and constructed two rain barrels which serve as containers for hand watering. The rain barrels are sitting beside our compost pile which has two containers to make turning it over that much easier. You can see a picture that shows part of the compost and the rain barrels behind the squash and melon plot. The other thing that we didn't have when we first got started was the youth plot in the garden which is now on the other side of our flourishing potatoes. They are growing peppers, tomatoes and beans on one end of their plot and squash, melons, radishes, carrots and beets on the other end. I brought home my first cucumber and zucchini from the garden, even though the cucumber was kind of a funny shape it was very tasty! The learning garden harvested about 90 radishes from our first crop, and one of our buddy gardeners, Sue, found that funky pear shaped radish hiding in her plot. We have a LOT of green tomatoes that should be ready really soon, they have flourished outdoors if you look at the first pictures when they were staked with little sticks compared to the pictures showing how bushy and tall they are now! Today we are battling some hungry deer and pesky moles, but these problems come as little surprise to us and we are working on natural ways to deter both. We are also always looking for more volunteers and one day hope to have a spot in the Ypsilanti Farmer's Market. It has been a lot of hard work and a lot of fun but our garden has grown in leaps and bounds in just four months!