Gardening

Garden Centerpiece

Sweet Corn Patch

With this being my first spring here, I am quite late in getting a garden going but it is getting going. We've actually got two garden areas. One is a corn patch out by the wheat field that we just harvested.

It's got some green beans, squash, cantaloupe and watermelon out there along with some sunflowers. Trying to do a little bit of the "Three Sisters" there. The main garden area, in the yard and closer to the house, has a more formal design with a raised central area.

Garden area with chicken coop

Limestone raised planter

Laying out the garden

Limestone is plentiful not too far below the soil surface, which can be a problem as it limits the amount of available topsoil, but the rock also provides material for making walls, walkways and patio areas. Believe me, I've got plenty of rock to work with. I used some of the smaller pieces to create a raised, circular center planter for the garden and placed an urn-shaped pot above it.

Urn-shaped pot for centerpiece with cut wildflowers below

My goal was to have a productive vegetable and herb garden that is ornamental as well. The garden is slowly taking shape. The center planting bed will consist of flowers and herbs. I'll post more photos once I have more plantings in there.

Eggshells for plant pots

The squash and cucumber plants
have done quite well

Lots of tomato plants including
seeds from my friend Michelle's tomatoes

I've got lots of seedlings started in the house. Some are already in the garden and others are still too tender to risk transplanting just yet. It's been way too hot for them to make it. I learned that the hard way as some of the early squash and melon seedlings did not make it.

I've gardened in the temperate climate of New England and in Mediterranean California. I'm sure there will be different challenges gardening on the Oklahoma prairie. Summers are hot, very hot and it can get quite windy.

Ideally, I would like to grow and preserve as much of my own food as I can. It would be nice to have a greenhouse to start plants. In my search for greenhouse ideas, I found a really neat structure by Mother Earth  that combines many uses into one. It is a greenhouse that can be built partly into the ground for energy efficiency. Compost bins within the structure help to heat it as do rabbits and chickens housed within the structure. More information about the "bioshelter" as Mother Earth News refers to it can be seen here. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1986-07-01/Bioshelter-Greenhouse.aspx