The Fortress

I've had a vegetable garden here on our three acres since 1992. Two years ago, in 2004, I finally got serious about it had the fortress you see here built to keep out the deer. A new garden, including an 8-foot high fence surrounding 8 new 4' by 8' foot boxes on three levels.


Here are a couple of photos of my garden growing in 2004. It was an experimental year because I had to figure out where the sun was (and wasn't), trim additional trees, and install the watering.



2005 was a more successful year. We had a warm spring and I discovered the wonders of organic chicken manure. I gave C and K their own box to plant (split right down the center).

C planted carrots, spinach, snap peas and Mammoth Sunflowers. He enjoyed eating his vegetables, and so did we! K planted carrots, beets, snapdragons, zinnias, sweet peas and red sunflowers. Her carrots were yummy and her flowers were beautiful.



Everything finally planted here. That's vermiculite you see covering the seeds in the boxes. But what is that thing on top of Kevin's head?

View from the water tank. Look at those splendid tomato vines! Those heirloom tomato plants came from Love Apple Farm in Ben Lomond.

This year, the only thing I have done in the garden is spread the chicken manure. We have had so much rain this past month that the boxes are too wet to turn. I don't think I will be able to plant until May unless the weather dries out soon.

More later on the construction of the boxes and the challenges of gardening with limited sun.