We weren’t sure if there would be a 2014 treadle garden or not, due to the draught. We’ve been on Stage 4 Water-Use Restrictions since the first of the year. We can only water outside plants one day per week, but can capture rain water and re-use household water (we capture hand-washing and dish-rinsing water, and the water in the pipes when getting hot water to the shower), so we decided to go ahead and plant. We can capture and hold about 150 gallons of rain water at any one time.
We went with the same amount of planting tubs (14) as last year, but reconfigured some of them to make them easier to tend to and mow around. If we don’t get enough water to keep the garden going all summer, we won’t have lost much in seed costs, and our rain barrels were full at planting time, so we’re giving it a shot.
The first photo was taken on May 9th, not too long after we’d planted. The second photo was taken June 24th. We’ve gotten several good rains between the two photos, as you can tell from the weeds in the yard (most of the grass died a couple of years ago, so the “lawn” is actually weeds). We only got a hand-full of asparagus in early spring. The extra-cold winter was too hard on the plants, I guess. We’ve begun harvesting squash, cucumbers, and of course, cilantro. The bell peppers, okra, jalapenos, tomatoes, and green chilies are all coming along great, so we’ll at least get a few vegetables this year, even if we have to abandon the garden later.
The two tubs on the treadle stands have tomatoes and cilantro in them. You can see two of our dead trees in the background.
CD in Oklahoma