Garden tour part 2: Backyard

The backyard has been substantially altered in the past year. We had one large old apple tree removed, several small trees and large shrubs removed, a fence put in around the back and side, a big chunk of lawn removed, and six sloped beds double-dug on the west side for a vegetable garden. Our property borders on a bike path/public easement with a lot of trees, so the back fence is heavily shaded in the summer. Since we removed some trees, it's a bit of a test this year to see what areas are still too shady for most vegetables and what areas could be utilized for more beds.

From the left out of the back door: potted eggplant, lemon, lime; tomatillos and a large climbing rose in the back.

Around the corner, new raspberries and grapes (in the corner) training up to a trellis on the fence. Plus an embarassing amount of weeds.

Tomatoes and a two-year-old fig tree, with a semi-bush ("semi"?) winter squash. The fig has put on a ton a growth this spring, so I'll probably give a it a lot more space next year.

Tomatoes on the left, garbanzo beans on the right, intensively planted apple trees in the back.

Back behind the garbanzos and tomatoes, some pot projects. Lettuce that is *done,* "wonderberry" solanum, sad dill plants, shiso starting up.

Camillia senensis, real tea plants! These guys are on the border of the shade line and may need more sun.

Back corner, tough area to plant. Shady and dry in summer, sun and very wet in spring. We've got some evergreen huckleberry, bunchberry, miner's lettuce, monkey flower, and some ornamental shrubs. A sad Goji berry in the pot. The tarps are there to kill off the last bits of sod.

Back fence, shady, needs some thought and work.

Compost corner

Herb and brassica bed. Drying mustard (for seed), epazote, basil, fennel, and some fall cabbages.

Little bed under a window. This was supposed to be a new perennial kitchen herb area, but the reseeding calendula have taken over!

Overview of the newly-dug out vegetable beds on the side of the house

Quinoa. Plants on the right were seeded earlier and less close together than the plants on the left. Everything flowered at the same time, though, indicating the importance of getting growth on the plants as early as possible.

Multicolor sweet corn. This variety ("Festivity") was supposed to be bred for low fertility situations, so far so good without fertilizer!

Potatoes from true potato seed in foreground, some root veggies in back. I'm totally psyched for the Peruvian/Bolivian TPS potatoes. One of the plants has grown to about 3 foot diameter, I hope it produces a decent tuber!

Leeks, bunching onions, zucchini; lentils in back. Empty space was some spring-sown favas, finally finished up a couple of weeks ago.

Tons of beans! Pole beans need more, more, more climbing space.

One nice big Long Island Cheese squash, with beans in back.

Arbor at end of the side yard, with preexisting irises and roses. Maybe a climbing edible can be incorporated along the fence or arbor?