12 squashes - 5 varieties; also from heirloom seeds (I'll show these when they get bigger).
The lettuce, radishes and carrots are sneaking into the upper right hand corner of the pic and the far spaced plants next to them is the squashes.
We have been eating salads from the lettuces I thinned. Mr. Clay can't stop raving about how good the lettuce is.
and of course, the gazillion peas...and lookie! Mr. Clay got the neighbor to cut his weeds back away from the fence :)
The peas are full of blooms and have just started bearing pods. I love peas right from the plant; can't stand canned or frozen ones though. *this is just a small section of the row of peas*
I ended up planting 4 tomatoes in a neighbor's yard and gave away more than a dozen; my poor aching arms and hands just could not take anymore planting. Each plant has had its own hole dug, the hard pan clay broken up, mulch and soil added and then planted. I'm really not a wimp; the tiller broke and was in the shop, so I had to do it all by hand...141 individual plants + the peas and radish, lettuce and carrot crops...the only thing left to do is water,weed, and watch them grow.
And remember this shot last time? 
Well here is the same tree (from a different angle and the grass is starting to come in nicely now
And those trailers??? We moved them out, laid down weed protectant material, and had 7.5 tons of rock hauled in and I 'got' to spread it all out. My arms were like aching noodles afterwards. The rock is about 5-6 inches deep.
The area under the white trailer (which is really Mr. Clay's shed) is the lowest part of our property and when it rains or the snow melts, we always have a pond there, making it impossible to get into the trailer. Mr. Clay's theory is that the rock will be raised enough so that we can get to the trailer during 'wet times'...I shall let you know how this works out.
All this work really took a toll on my body. The old grey mare just ain't what she used to be...My arms and hands were hurting so bad I couldn't sleep through the night for weeks. I finally went and had it checked and turns out I have a bulging disc. I went to my acupressure guy and he fixed me somewhat. I was told not to push, pull, or do anything for 10 days...but you know how that goes. As luck would have it, I got a callback from a temp job I did last year. So I will be temping from Monday thru til the end of the month...so much for that 'rest and not do anything' stuff :)
And finally, our latest toy which actually arrived a few weeks ago is....
the tumbling composter...this will make it easier for us to make our own compost. We have started our first batch with vegetable scraps, egg shells, paper from our shredder, a bucket of rabbit poop from a friend, peat moss, some mulch, and a little depleted soil. And all we have to do is turn it and let it do it's thing.
And "what will we do with all those anaheim chiles?" is the question I keep getting asked. Stay tuned and next time I will share my "Cheater Chile Rellenos" recipe.
We lubs our anaheims :)
Until next time,
XOXOXOXO
Cindi
Since he cannot do heavy strenuous work anymore, I spread gypsum (to help break up our clay soil) and countless wheelbarrowfulls of soil prep (also for the clay) and spread it all over the garden to be tilled in. Here is a far away shot of him on 'compost day' . The dark area is where he hadn't yet tilled, and this shot still blocks off about 12 feet of the left side of the yard.
We cannot plant tender plants (tomatoes, chilis, and squashes) until the end of May here, and even then one year, we still lost half our plants to a late freeze on Memorial Day weekend. So we have spent weeks weeding (burning, cutting and pulling by hand) and cleaning up the rest of the yard.
And here it is cleaned up... most of the way. We wanted to plant grass on this half of the backyard. And those paving stones you see stacked up there on the left in the shade, are to make a walkway to the garden area :
After planting the grass and laying the pavers:
I'd like to say that the grass has come in nicely; but as you can see, it hasn't. This is 3 weeks after planting and the only green you see are very happy weeds. :) Mr. Clay has to till this all up and we have to replant it again, due to us listening to uninformed people at the farmer store where we bought our seed.
See all that green on the other side of the fence? Our neighbors have a ton of weeds! This is only shows about half the peas we planted. We are so going to be so busy minding our peas, we won't even time time for the Q's ;)
The second crop is under the white cheese cloth type material. It allows the sun to shine through and also I can water through it. If I don't cover it we have a flock of doves and other birds that come and pick it clean. This way the birds are kept out while the seeds sprout, which has already started: 
I also planted two of my squash plants. These are two that I started from heirloom seeds, indoors under lights, and is a variety I have never tried before called 'Tatume'. The fruits are round to slightly elongated are are said to be even tastier than the normal zucchini.
I was told they are easily grown onto a trellis or fence, are drought tolerant, and are supposedly resistant to vine borers, too. For those who have grown squash before, you know what a nuisance those squash bugs can be. I shall let you know later if they are in fact resistant to them, and if they indeed grow up the fence.
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