The Devil is in the Details

This is the original design for our backyard edible garden. The installation process has been a gradual process as our time and available materials permit.  An advantage of this gradual design-installation process is that is gives up time to reevaluate the design after each project is complete as we learn more about plants' needs, our climate, installation techniques, and the workings of a garden.

We designed the garden as a reaction to the farm aesthetic of rows and rows and rows of crops.  This organization strategy is a product of the tractor and plowing with draft animals, neither of which we are using here.  One goal with our design is to make the space feel like an informal, ornamental garden, but with useful plants in it.  Design decisions supported this goal.

We located the main seating area at the base of the existing stone steps.  Not only does this location benefit from shade from the cedar elms to the south, but it also connects the edible garden with the wildflower meadow providing pleasing views in two directions.  This location of seating area utilized the existing seat rock as natural seating and maintains it's historic use as a picnic location.

We positioned the new fruit trees to receive sun and disperse shade throughout the garden.  Since this initial design, we have seen the effect of the very HOT Texas sun on our plants, and we have begun to explore the benefits of creating a food forest.  We have since added a Mulberry and a Mexican Plum.  The garden's paths directly connect the main seating area to trees which are perennial anchors of the garden, unlike most of the other crop plants which are annuals and changed throughout the year.  The paths guide the eye toward the trees, making them focal points of the garden.

The chicken coop is also a focal point that stretches the eye to the edge of the garden.  It is on a small hill that is a very dry location in the garden where plants have never thrived.  We have noticed that by having the chicken coop on the opposite side of the garden from the house, we are able to conveniently monitor the garden frequently.  We originally left the area between the chicken coop and the seating area undesigned, because we were unsure what to do with it due to the high amount of shade.  We discovered that it was a perfect pasture area for the chickens (descendants of jungle fowl) who desire overhead branches to protect from or escape from predators.  The soil is also kept more moist because of the shade and better suited to the chickens for scratching.

Small paths allow access to the middle of the beds where the 4' wide planting areas can be reached from two sides.  This is an adaptation of the keyhole garden which is a permaculture design that maximizes planting space.  Rather than a long linear walking space between rows, the keyhole garden has a small point of 360 degree access.

We are slowly implementing the elements over time, and we are not afraid to alter the plan as we move forward with each new project and learn from each previous step.

Armadillo Troubles

We woke up to find some some digging destruction throughout our garden for a couple consecutive days.  We decided to camp in the garden to catch the perpetrator red-clawed.

We didn't plan for this use in the garden, but the hairy vetch makes a nice, soft campsite.

I decided to make yogurt that night to give me an excuse to wake up and check on it periodically.  As I was walking into the garden around midnight after turning off the heating milk, I spotted a shiny lump of an armadillo in the neighbor's yard.  It walked from their yard, into the woods behind our garden and crawled under our back gate.

'Dillo determent

I tracked the critter the entire time and scared it back into the woods as soon as it started digging around our blackberries.  Stacked stones at the base of the gate should keep out the armadillo for now.

Stretching after a night of 'dillo patrol

We enjoyed waking up in the garden, energized for the new day along with the squash, corn, tomatoes, and peas of the garden.

A Prickly Task

An adventure in eating wild edibles focused on nopales, the pads of the prickly pear cactus.  Harvesting the young pads off the plants was fairly easy, but removing all the glochids (small spines) was quite a task.  I used a small knife to remove the ones on the sides and cut off the perimeter of the pad including the numerous glochids there.  The stickiness of the cut nopales also made the preparation process difficult.  

Finally, after cleaning about a dozen nopales, we coated them with olive oil to grill.  We sliced them and ate them plain and in tortillas with falafel and tzatziki (culture blend!).  

They have a tender crunch with a tartness like a tomatillo, but they are a little mucilaginous like okra.  It's nice to eat wild food, but I need to find a faster way to get rid of those glochids!

A Meal Any Garden Would Be Proud Of

We concocted an amazing citrus stir fry with our garden fresh harvest. Vegetables included were zucchini, yellow squash, carrot, snap peas, green onion, kohlrabi, garlic, and beet greens for the best taste of the season. We also included pineapple chunks and a basil garnish.

Our summer squash has "ribs" which make the slices look like flowers

The prepped ingredients look fresh and colorful

 In an electric wok, start with approximately 1T canola oil. Then add beet green stems, carrot, onion (bulb part), and garlic. Then add kohlrabi, squash, and zucchini. Then add the beet greens, green onion tops, and peas. Finally pour in about 1 cup of sauce (soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, juice from 1 orange, honey, and corn starch) and the pineapple chunks. Cook for a few minutes to let sauce thicken. Serve over brown rice with a basil garnish.

Flavors melding in the wok

A delicious plate of food!

Like a CSA Share From Our Own Garden!

We had an impromptu harvest this morning, and the result looks like all the photos we used to take of our CSA share that we brought home each week. How exciting to get such wonderful looking carrots and beets (first harvest of these) from our own backyard! We also got more swiss chard, some squash and a zucchini, and a rib from our cardoon plant (a nutty celery substitute). Now we have to dream up some great meals for all this special produce!

Inspecting the beets

Perusing the table of goodies

A pretty bunch of carrots as well as lots of other freshly picked items. The cardoon leaf is leftmost on the table.

Can't Wait One More Day

So today I asked my husband's opinion on harvesting the first red tomato, and he suggested letting it ripen a bit more. But I picked it anyway, unable to resist the taste of its wonderful sweetness a moment longer. Although a small cherry tomato, we cut it and shared it three-ways around the family. What a perfect taste of more delights to come! Today's harvest photo also includes our first cucumber!

The Hungry Caterpillar

Spring brings the beauty of butterflies floating gracefully through the garden, as well as chubby caterpillars crawling through the garden. Despite their destruction, we recognize their rightful place in the ecosystem. We utilize diverse plantings spread throughout the garden to hopefully ensure enough left for us after the caterpillars have their share. As well, keeping the plants healthy with plenty of compost allows them to outgrow any damage.

An exciting find was to spot monarch caterpillars on our newly planted milkweed. Even though it hasn't flowered yet, the foliage is a necessary food source for these brightly patterned insects.

We also lure beneficial insects that will help us organically control pest insect populations by providing food sources such as our winter ground cover, hairy vetch, that provides spring flowers, as well as letting our cilantro bolt and flower.

Hairy Vetch

Cilantro

This Corn is Not for Eating

Sightings of corn poppies and cornflower in the meadow

The Fruits (and Blooms) of our Labor

It's an exciting time, and one of continued anticipation, as our favorite warm season crops begin to flower and set fruit. Some of the sights in the garden:

Spiky baby cucumbers

Broccoli florets finally begin to grow

Tomatoes in bloom and full of fruit

Pepper Flowers

Flowers appearing on our Great Wall and Eureka Persimmons mean fruit in the fall!

Blackberries in bloom

A growing acorn squash. This squash plant is much more spreading along the ground
than the yellow & zucchini squash.

Eggplant buds and an open bloom

A Relaxed Day in the Garden

The party was over, but projects in the garden never end. Today we side-dressed the plants with compost and put a new tree in the ground - a native Mexican Plum that has edible fruit in the fall and white flowers in the spring.

After that we spent a few moments just sitting, relaxing, and enjoying the view of butterflies flitting around and the sound of birds. 

A few bed closeups, including a newly created and planted bed of tomatillo, okra, and melon.

A Garden Party

Although the garden is forever a work in progress, we finally felt like it was in shape to host an Open Garden Party. Although we forgot to take pictures until late in the evening, we loved visiting with neighbors and friends and sharing the stories and knowledge surrounding our garden's creation and celebrating Mom's birthday. Even the chickens came out to join us towards the end. Good food, good friends, and a delightful setting! Our food was themed around ingredients that we have growing in the garden, featuring carrot, beets, cucumber, mint, cilantro, corn, swiss chard, squash, garlic, mulberries, figs, and of course chicken eggs!