Today the garden looks so great and you can really see the garden structure. It's not the same as being here but check it out...
This is the garden from the SE corner looking NW. The garden is totally lined with brick and some stone that Mark found on the property. It provides a good boundry on three full sides.
This is the south side of the garden which includes squash, beans, rhubarb and potatoes. Mark dug the trenchs along 3 sides of the garden, filled it with gravel and good top soil. I put the crops here that need room to ramble, some of the beans will climb the bean branches like the peas are doing. The potatoes are laying on the ground covered with 4-6" of hay - outside the garden - it is a technique from Ruth Stout who wrote the 1961 book "Gardening Without Work" and "How to Have a Green Thumb without An Aching Back". She is a hoot to read and I'm trying some of her techniques this summer. Already 3 potato plants are coming up through the hay. I'm quite excited since I just laid out the potatoes on the ground, covered with hay, and didn't have to do any digging. I originally watched an old video of Ruth Stout on YouTube that was so interesting but it has been removed due to copywrite issues. Anyway, I think she had it right about using mulch to lessen work. She was quite elderly in the video and I'm sure she is now deceased. She left a wonderful legacy.
The potatoes are in the area in the upper left side of the picture - they are growing under the hay! In the middle of the picture are the hills of squash. In rows under the bean branches are the beans. The branches are there for the beans to climb. On the far right edge of the south garden are herbs. The west side ground garden includes more beans, garlic, onions, asparagus and sweet potatoes.
This is looking north from the SE side of the garden. Asparagus, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, onion and basil are in these beds. You can really see the brick edge of the garden along with the arbor. I have most everything heavily mulched with hay or pine straw that we brought back from North Carolina. It really keeps the weeds down and the soil evenly moist ala Ruth Stout.
This is a nice view of the garden, you can see how the tanks relate to the surrounding inground beds. Blueberry bushes make the northern border for the garden. In this view, you see the strawberry tank closest to the camera, the tomatoes in the middle, and the northern tank is peppers and broccoli. Across from the strawberries, is the snow peas/carrots/and soybean tank; the middle tank across from the tomatoes holds beets, peas, and the last of the spinach; and the northern most tank holds lettuce, kale and cauliflower. Yum, Yum!
This view is from the NW and if you look closely you can see the 6 blueberry bushes which will eventually form the north boundry of the garden. They are small but really doing well, we're seeing great growth. They are our favorite fruit so we are really really excited about these little bushes! On the west side, just outside the garden, are 2 more blueberry bushes and 2 raspberry bushes (our second favorite fruit). You can see the garden in relationship to the cottage. The deck faces the garden.
The garden bench is a special place in the garden. The structure around it is part of an old rusted metal porch railing that Mark found on the property. I planted moonflower and morning glory to climb the towers and johnny jumpups and allysym under the bench. The Wee Gnome sits on the rocks under the bench among the shamrocks. I can't wait to see how this develops over the summer. It is a great place to rest & contemplate. I'll send updates as the growth progresses this summer.
To the left is the fabulous lettuce we have been enjoying; and on the right is the kale. I will be freezing the kale this weekend. It will be great this winter in soup. I got most of my seeds from SeedSavers Exchange in Iowa.
This is looking south from the NE edge of the garden. I think you have the idea of the structure of the garden.
The sundial...
The deck view from the rocking chairs...
So tonight as I have been creating this blog post, we had a BIG storm - thunder, lightening, rain, hail... but not enough to damage the garden, I hope. My Mother, Bessie, was a weather worrier. She would go from window to window, checking the sky and anticipating the damage. OMG, I inherited the Bessie weather worrier gene! This was a very stressful storm. Now that it is over and it appears that we just really got a lot of rain and wind, I feel better. Tomorrow everything will look like it got a great drink of water.
The girls (aka The Dots) have no idea just how stylish their little house is - the farmers and ranchers around here think this is an "LA chicken coop" but I can tell you that it makes me smile everytime I look at it and there is nothing wrong with that. 
Click on the picture for an enlarged view - it's pretty wild!
The view when you drive into the yard.
Mark and I picked the entire cherry tree on Sunday. Look at the bounty! They are sitting in an old turkey roaster and the tea cup gives you an idea of the volume of fruit. I then made the cherry jam and dry packed 11 pints of cherries to use through the winter for pies, etc. Our freezer is beginning to look like a food version of a pirates treasure chest. Fantastic!
Check out the growth in the garden at this time. Those are tomatoes in the tank - and boy do they have lots of tomatoes setting on.
And check out the winter squash.
The flowers are blooming behind the garden bench. It's a great place to sit and chill or to talk with friends on the cell phone. Yeah, I let technology interrupt occasionally so I stay connected.
Check out the resulting jam. YUM! The perfect jam for fresh out of the oven bread. And, my first mulberry pie.
Wish you were here to enjoy the fruits of our labor! If you do make it, I'll just pull a pie from the freezer and a jar of jam from the shelf to enjoy on fresh bread. I'll leave you with that thought....
When we arrived home, we checked the incubator and 2 guinea eggs were being chipped open - babies were hatching! See the picture on the right - it is just MOMENTS born.The guinea babies are called Keets. It looks as though we have a few more about to hatch. They are soooo tiny at birth. The newborn guineas are so much smaller than our chickens which were 2 days old when they arrived. 
This little guy is still wet from the egg and look how tiny. This is probably the cutest stage of a guineas life!
Today the Keets are dry and starting to eat and drink. Noisy little guys - so tiny. No new ones yet today. There was one this morning but he didn't make it completely out of the shell. We don't know if more will hatch or not. We'll keep you posted.
snow peas...
cherries ready to pick for pies, jam and freezing for later...
A couple of my beautiful, fragrant roses that aren't pink! The vase is a gift from the bride and groom - a wonderful momento of their special day.
The bluebird house is outside our kitchen window so we get to witness these sites daily.
Country birdbath... 
We have LOTS of yellow finches to our delight. We have four feeders off our deck so we see lots of action. 
A big wind moved the feeders together.
Country GYM... This is my main exercise. We have lots of grass so I easily get my 10,000 steps in on the days I mow. It takes me 2-3 days to get the entire yard done. I know it sounds crazy, but I LOVE to mow.
The DOTS are beginning to get braver and venturing farther from the Dot House (aka chicken coop).
This is the garden from the SE corner looking NW. The garden is totally lined with brick and some stone that Mark found on the property. It provides a good boundry on three full sides.
The potatoes are in the area in the upper left side of the picture - they are growing under the hay! In the middle of the picture are the hills of squash. In rows under the bean branches are the beans. The branches are there for the beans to climb. On the far right edge of the south garden are herbs. The west side ground garden includes more beans, garlic, onions, asparagus and sweet potatoes.
This is looking north from the SE side of the garden. Asparagus, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, onion and basil are in these beds. You can really see the brick edge of the garden along with the arbor. I have most everything heavily mulched with hay or pine straw that we brought back from North Carolina. It really keeps the weeds down and the soil evenly moist ala Ruth Stout.
This is a nice view of the garden, you can see how the tanks relate to the surrounding inground beds. Blueberry bushes make the northern border for the garden. In this view, you see the strawberry tank closest to the camera, the tomatoes in the middle, and the northern tank is peppers and broccoli. Across from the strawberries, is the snow peas/carrots/and soybean tank; the middle tank across from the tomatoes holds beets, peas, and the last of the spinach; and the northern most tank holds lettuce, kale and cauliflower. Yum, Yum!
This view is from the NW and if you look closely you can see the 6 blueberry bushes which will eventually form the north boundry of the garden. They are small but really doing well, we're seeing great growth. They are our favorite fruit so we are really really excited about these little bushes! On the west side, just outside the garden, are 2 more blueberry bushes and 2 raspberry bushes (our second favorite fruit). You can see the garden in relationship to the cottage. The deck faces the garden.
The garden bench is a special place in the garden. The structure around it is part of an old rusted metal porch railing that Mark found on the property. I planted moonflower and morning glory to climb the towers and johnny jumpups and allysym under the bench. The Wee Gnome sits on the rocks under the bench among the shamrocks. I can't wait to see how this develops over the summer. It is a great place to rest & contemplate. I'll send updates as the growth progresses this summer.
The sundial...
The deck view from the rocking chairs...
