Yesterday in the Garden

Yesterday was the solstice, the formal beginning of summer.  The longest day of the year.  (Only six months to Christmas!)  With months of growing season already behind us here in San Diego County, and the threat of drought and fire ahead of us, it is a time to enjoy the bounty that we already have.  This is my year for gardening: I have the best vegetable garden I’ve ever had, after years of building raised beds and lining with aviary wire against gophers, improving the soil with compost, and buying organic seeds and fertilizers.  I also have incredible freedom in my yard to plant whatever I like, wherever I like (within the constraints of tolerance by the plants).  I’ve always had to cluster plants around where I’ve slapped together irrigation on the few stolen weekend hours I could devote to my yard.  No more!  With the permaculture gardens, the well and the drip irrigation, I am excited about my yard for the first time in the twelve years I’ve lived here.  With the incredible job that Roger Boddaert and his team of Juan and Francisco, and also Aquascape’s Aart DeVos with his manager Jacob who has spent thirteen hour days on my property and is back early the next morning, the permaculture project is nearing completion and is spectacular.  As a habitat it is succeeding, attracting more wildlife every day.  As a food forest it has is off to a good start, with extra going to go to the Fallbrook Food Pantry.  As an interesting, decorative garden it is unique and full of surprises.   I’ll show you some photos; you can click on any of them to enlarge, but it will open in this window and you’ll have to use the back arrow to return to this page: