The Gardening Saga Resumes

If you were around these parts last year, you might remember that my spouse and I kinda gave up on our vegetable garden for a year, covering it over with landscape fabric and mulch to try to suppress the perennial weeds (bindweeds) that had overtaken it.

This year we’re trying again.

But we’re trying to be smarter about it. Half of the vegetable bed is just plain covered over again. The other half has been divided into a grid system invented by my spouse, with strips of fabric surrounding 1′ X 1′ squares of open soil. (Think plaid.)

The fabric parts have been mulched again, and the rest of the mulch will cover the open soil. That way, there will be a strong weed barrier over much of the garden, a weaker barrier over the rest. and we should be able to keep up a little better.

At least that was the plan. But due to our work schedules, we can’t do much (or any) gardening during the week, and our last three weekends have looked like this: out of town; rainy; hot as Hades. So we haven’t finished the mulching, and the bindweed has popped up again in the squares. At least the fabric is holding them back for now.

Despite our neglect, most of what we’ve planted is thriving. (Thank goodness for my in-laws, who water diligently while we’re at work!) The tomatoes in particular are loving the heat. We still have some squares to fill; I’m thinking basil, or maybe some annuals left over at the garden store. The bindweed is encroaching on the three squares where we sowed seeds (marigolds and beets), so those may be a lost cause; and the jury’s still out on the banana pepper and acorn squash, as neither one is looking too healthy. But we just had a spectacular display of peonies, the hydrangeas are starting, and the perennials bed in the far back is gearing up…

Turns out I just like watching stuff happen in the garden. (Well, and eating the results.) And if I can get it to do that with less work, so much the better. Still working on the best balance. I’ll be back at the end of the season with another report…

In the meantime, over to you! Do you have a garden? What do you grow (or what would you grow in it if you did)? How do you keep it manageable?