little garden

Had a lovely day getting my hands dirty. My small garden plot in B Yard wasn't really ready- the layers haven't broken down and won't for some time, but I put a dozen bags of topsoil on the surface, raked in most of the new vermicompost I had. And planted them all- the rest of the smaller sunflowers, two rows of lettuce, some cilantro, a few marigolds at corners, four little pepper plants, five broccoli, three swiss chard, two pole beans on corners where they might be encourged to climb the downspouts.

It all looks pathetic now because some wilted and I'd already eaten the lettuces down to near-nothing. I'm not hoping for much- I doubt the sun exposure is enough for the sunflowers and peppers, the lettuce is already bolting into bitterness (but it will make nice shapes when grown tall).

I will be happy if I get some chard and perhaps broccoli to eat, but mostly I just wanted stuff growing in there, and to get the little plants out of the strictures of their seedling pots. Also not sure how they will do once the roots strike down past the inches of topsoil and meet the unfinished layers. But hey- if it doesn't produce now I will just pile more stuff on in fall to break down overwinter. And if there's not enough sun in this corner, I'll find some shade plants and turn it into a decorative flower bed or a spot to grow cuttings...

Elsewhere I also have green beans set to climb posts,

tomatoes in pots (not sure if the containers I used are big enough...) or the cages are just too tall to use for this (should be struck into the ground nearly up to the first rung I think)

they are set in different spots around the deck and edges of yard below, to see which do best where in terms of sun exposure...

and my three-year-old pepper is creating some interesting fruit- there's a large green one in the back looks like a bell pepper, but this longer one on the side looks like a poblano to me. And the others kept small but turned red. Curious thing. I will have to eat some, and see how they taste!