Making a new garden plot

When we moved back to Manitoba, we moved to a half acre yard that essentially had nothing... but some grass and creeping charlie and LOTS of shading trees.

So what's a gal to do?  Get the ole' brain thinking about "who used to till gardens?" etc and then get on the phone!  Mr. E still tills gardens and he was kind enough to scrape up the sod, then till the garden area for me.  NO rocks in this dirt.  There is some shale on the one end, where a shed used to be.  I think there may have been a garden here years ago. Then we called a cousin for a load of composting manure.  Then Mr. E came and did the final tilling.

Then it was off to the Green Houses and plants were purchased.  All said and done, $500 investment into making the garden and planting the seeds.

The shady yard.  The garden is behind the 5 trees, a little fruit garden is in front of the 5 trees.

One of the above 5 trees in a row ~ I got annoyed one afternoon at how much sunshine they were taking from my struggling raspberry row.  I got out the old dull axe and 100 swings later, I was sweaty and happy ~ the tree is gone!  Now I will wait for the manly man to use the chainsaw on the others.  I didn't think I should cut my leg off just yet.  I love my garden and all, but I need my legs as they are!

The front little garden patch that will develop into my fruit garden ~ hoping to get some strawberries, etc.  I planted a black currant and 3 rhubarb plants and some raspberries so far.  The beans and zucchini are just fillers for this year.  They aren't doing that great, but with the trees gone they should perk up.

Bye bye sun sucking tree!  

The southside (shady side) I had to replant a lot of lettuce, swiss chard, etc.  Now that it is growing, it looks okay.  Again, the trees are taking a lot of nutrients as well as sun.

Sugar snap peas, carrots, onions, potatoes.

Leeks, tomatoes, beans, tomatoes

Beans, carrots, regular peas, leeks...

Tomatoes, peppers, beans, carrots...

More beans (Kate got a few heritage ones from a friend) and there's pumpkin, squash, cauliflower, broccoli, cukes on the other side of the garden that didn't really get into the photo.

We've been self pollinating some of the pumpkins, squashes to make sure we don't get some sort of weird mix ~ a Pumpash?

Some composting bedding from the chickens, then a rain barrel beside the sod pile

The sod was pushed up and I thought ~ hum, throw in a pumpkin and a squash and see if the girls notice...  I will be putting some black plastic on the rest of the pile to hopefully burn off the grass and it will be a nice compost dirt pile.

Looks like we'll be getting neighbors to the north, and this will turn into a bonafide back alley.

Cucumbers and broccoli, etc.  The corn was an experiment in transplanting... we'll see... doesn't look so hot at the moment!
We are eating lots of beans and peas and carrots and onions and potatoes.  I don't like to buy any veggies in the store this time of year when I know I can eat from the garden.  So far we've ate about $50 worth from the garden, so I only have another $450 to pay off the garden!  Next year will be easier and better.  Can't wait to fill the freezer with all this good organic, nutrient filled veggies for winter eating.  Saves on the pocket book as well as feeding the best quality food to our bodies.