Our Edible Backyard Garden Brings Joy!

The joy of creating an edible backyard garden or any garden for that matter is not only seeing it's completion but in the doing.  Don't people often say that  

"It's not the destination, but the journey"? 

The hard work and back pains doesn't matter, really!  One garden aficionado said that gardeners should have a steel backbone to survive the bending, squatting and the hard work.  But I wouldn't like that though, and I have a good chiropractor if things get out of hand. 

 Every leaf that grows is a delight;  every flower that opens gives us great satisfaction.  Every new plant or feature we incorporate makes us appreciate our garden more.  Finally, it is beginning to evolve into a cozy retreat and it is starting to bring food on the table.

We made two major moves this week.  Now we can say goodbye to puddle and muddy walkways! 

It has been raining quite a lot recently and we observed some "ponding" because rainwater don't flow freely down the drain.  We studied the terrain and pinpointed the spots where rainwater is trapped, so we created a natural drainage system. 

We dug narrow canals and covered them with stones in 7 different colors that simulate river rocks.  When it rains water flows like in a stream, the stones help slow down the flow and filters the soil preventing erosion. 

We decided to put grass and stepping stones with bricks on walkways and the spaces between plots.   This is how it looks now.  In two weeks the grass will look like a velvet blanket just like our front yard. 

That's our tiny house, a shed actually that we use for storage. 

Notice the plant on the right?  That's the newly planted sour sap.  See it up close below.

My next challenge is filling up corners and empty spaces with edible ground covers.  I want every corner to be eye catching and every plant groupings looking like a bouquet.   Experts  say that the best choice for ground cover is herbs; mint and oregano being on top of the list since they  are easy to propagate even in shady spots. 

Look at my ginger patch!  Why not a cabbage patch?  Well, early on  I've noticed that I keep buying ginger root for cooking and in making ginger tea.  We boil ginger slices in water whenever we have sore throat, cough or colds. 

Look at the bell pepper seedlings!  We sun-dried seeds from fruit we used for cooking and scattered them about on this plot.

Soon this long empty plot on the right will be filled with bell peppers.  My husband has more plans for this plot so it will not be limited to bell peppers. I'm sure he can find a partner or two for the peppers; let's wait and see. 

There are still a lot of things  we want to do in this garden to make it more productive and attractive. I'm doing a lot of readings and I welcome tried and tested suggestions. We'll keep you posted on our progress.

Happy garden day, everyone!