Here's what a truly organic garden looks like

I thought I would post some pictures of my garden (veggie and flower) so you can see what no pesticides and no chemical fertilizers look like.

I water the veggies once a week for 3 hours. The flowers get watered every couple of days, but the flowerbed was just planted in July so it needs time to become established.

That said - here we go -

The first picture is our new front walkway with our new landscaping. The rich black soil is merely composted horse manure and sawdust.




Next up are the Yellow Brandywine tomatoes...nothing, not downpours nor deer can stop these heirloom tomatoes!



Every year we have mystery squash of some sort. This year are some strange looking pumpkin type devices. It's like Christmas...with err squash...



Our neighbor dug a hole in our yard to get to his water meter. He never filled it in so we did with some nice dirt from an old Swiss Chard bed (died 4 YEARS AGO!!)...I guess seeds last that long exposed to the elements...I have never watered nor placed any poo around these lovely plants. I am however, planting more Swiss Chard there now and will start caring for it.



Ahhh, the next item in my garden line-up is not a plant at all, but a little sweetheart who loves to touch and taste (nearly) everything in my garden. I couldn't let him do that if I used nasty chemicals.



MMMM Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes...'nuff said.



This pile of plants are 4 Lemon Cucumbers. They are crazy big and producing a ripe cucumber every day now. We had a late spring so this is very exciting.



I hope you enjoyed a little peek into our world.

Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman

If you are interested in extending the harvest season of your garden, I highly recommend reading the book 'Four Season Harvest' by Eliot Coleman. It's really well written and very engaging. He and his wife traveled to France and the books talks a lot about how the French extend their growing seasons. He applies their knowledge to his American garden and voila!! He has food, fresh from his garden 365 days a year.
Here is what I am doing to extend our harvest...
~Installing a mini hoop to cover my 6 tomato plants. A simple cover in Oregon can extend the harvest until December if all goes well. Our tomatoes need protection from rain and wind more than frost for the most part.
~Creating a raised bed with horse poo as the bottom layer of soil (warmth as it decomposes) to grow Broccolini, Kale, Carrots and Swiss Chard in.
~Planting pots with Mesculen salad blend, Swiss Chard, Arugula etc. Where some people might put a pot of Pansies by their front door, I'm going to have a pot of Bright Lights Swiss Chard. I'm all for edible landscaping.
~Locating a permanent spot for garlic and planting a ton. We will not have fresh garlic until next spring but the wait will be worth it!
~Starting Artichoke seeds, planting them out in the garden, waiting a year to see if we get Artichokes.
I plan on starting the Arugula and Mesculen pots at staggered times so my harvests will continue.