Again with the watering not by me

 I'm going to have to put a sign up in two places saying, 'If you didn't plant it, don't water it. The beds are being taken care of by the person who planted them. Thank you.'

It's another gorgeous day like yesterday, breezy, sunny and mild. Absolutely wonderful weather that I wish i could spend more time outside gardening. I didn't get out early as I wanted to because had to do some shopping this morning so the watering was done before I got out there. One reason is I want to look at the soil before it gets watered is to find out if the gopher made any more holes, like this one.

Luckily not close to the beds but angling off from the compost toward the potatoes... scary that. Everything else looked fine but as I said, it's like an invasion of privacy. These are my beds that I have tended and planted, like a home it's mine to take care of.

You can see how the soil is darker around the tomato but not at the other end of the bed? Initially, because the hose was right there I looked at the other lady's bed and saw it was wet so I figured she had put the hose there to turn it off. Then I remembered she usually puts it in the aloe and looked at the other beds..nope someone had run the hose there while they went to turn off the water. It's just annoying that someone takes it on themselves to do that when it's obviously not theirs. I will gladly help make another planting bed or sacrifice the south bed if someone else wants to plant something.

One thing I also noticed about my phone is there was a filter on it that made things more washed out like overexposed, fixed that and photos look a bit better now. I also realized I had forgotten to bring up the small tomato I picked yesterday and it was still sitting on the log pile. I was so distracted with the watering thing I forgot it again by the time I got back upstairs and had to go back down to retrieve it. More exercise at least...yay.

Those lettuce are such a thing leaf variety I'm hesitant to dig them up and transplant them so they'll stay that way for a bit longer. I would have to go out at like 4  pm or early morning when it's cooler to do it and evening would be better that way they don't have to suffer as much from midday heat while they settle in.

I would really love more waist high raised beds, maybe a little lower than that, but not the wimpy type that can only hold a few lettuce and herbs. Water tank size or board and brick types that I've seen where you put leaves/sticks/newspaper whatever in the bottom as a filler then your soil.

Most of the ideas I've seen are on a large scale like a small farm that can feed dozens of people. I only need three beds big enough for a couple tomatoes, peppers, a zucchini or cucumber, stuff I would eat honestly. I see some of the beds planted with cabbage, kale, beets, spinach, rhubarb or chard... don't need none of that stuff. 

Let's talk about this one first. It's a front yard (hello neighborhood!) two of hte beds are planted identically and it is entirely tooooo nice and neat and tidy. I would never plant a vegetable garden in front unless I trusted my neighbors, the dogs being walked.. there's no fence in the front to keep random dogs or whatever just walking into the  yard. 

I mentioned small farm and that's exactly what this is. No single family is going to consume that many veggies or even can and preserve that much. A bit more realistic for the planting but that much cabbage or cauliflower? Definitely a farmers market type arrangement to sell the extras when they're in season. I wouldn't mind doing that either. The straw/compost on the pathways is definitely a bonus but would prefer wood/bark chips or gravel.

I saw this idea and it struck me as absolutely perfect terracing for maximum space and access. There's also a slide for kids or maybe the gardener to come down faster rather than using the stairs. Plants at the top needing less water than the ones at the bottom, there's extra steps or seating it's wonderful!

My friend Miki who lives in Washington state and has quite literally a small farm @FourEweRanch had to move her chicken coop and yard off her septic area and redesigned her yard to use raised metal beds for her veggies that were in the same area.

She has three of these beds another one has just a small section of the fencing on one end for peas and every bed has at least some flowers planted. That is the way to do it and why I planted marigolds but likely won't have any plants that will need pollinating by the time those are in bloom. At least they'll be pretty!

It looks like she also has some drip irrigation line that saves on watering but in addition to the small beds she has just to supply herself and her mom she also makes her own stock, pickles/preserves vegetables makes jams, herbal salves... she uses everything at her disposal and I love that concept.

Chickens, sheep, goats, llama and I think a couple of alpaca, rabbits and seasonal turkeys all provide fertilizer for the garden as well as her kitchen scraps. A fully self sufficient small farm that I am envious of. Oh she has plenty of help from neighbors on her little island so she doesn't do all this on her own. All she has to do is send out the call and there's people asking what they can do. That's a true community and I would wish that for myself some day.