Back Garden in Fort Bragg

I’ve had a request from a reader to put the garden beds in context. Here is a view of the three garden beds often pictured individually, with the vegetable garden at the back of the right side.

And here is left of the picture above. The following pictures go from left to right, the vegetable garden is in the back on the far right.

left of back garden with Casey

Center of back garden

right of back garden – Fort Bragg CA

veggie garden

The unwatered grass is brown. We don’t water the lawn (which consists mostly of dandelions) in the summer because here in N CA most of our grass is summer dormant. Even at the edges of the cultivated garden where it is watered, it only starts looking green this time of year.

And what about the front garden, do you wonder? There are not pictures posted. Well, it is mostly a wasteland. It’s where we toss the ball and frisbee of Casey and Quinn. It’s also the location of our septic system and is very sandy plus nutrient poor. We have plans to try and improve the soil this fall. I’ll write more on that once the rain starts but I don’t want to seed anything just yet. I don’t have high hopes but we read an interesting article about how they reclaimed Golden Gate Park in San Francisco from the sand dunes. We are going to attempt the same.

The dahlias are still blooming although I expect them to be finished soon. The pineapple sage (the red plants in large pots on the right side of the back garden) are attracting the attention of the hummingbirds. They love the color red.

Remember the summer squash and bush beans I planted in August? Well, success! I have been harvesting zucchini although the plants have attracted a bit of powdery mildew. The purple bush beans are showing tiny beans.

August planted summer squash

Purple bush beans

The lettuce, cilantro, basil and arugula are doing well. We’ve been having wonderful salads.

lettuce, cilantro, basil and arugula

This past weekend I planted carrots, parsnips, radishes, lettuce and more arugula. The arugula is coming up after only three days.

As you can see from the large picture of the garden above, there are a few winter squashes almost ready to pick. I’m not sure if I will plant them again next year. The plants took up a lot of room and didn’t really produce well compared to the space they required.

A good friend has some cabbage starts for me in her greenhouse. This weekend I will prepare one of the empty beds for planting them when they are ready.

That’s it for this month. I am looking forward to the winter rains, they mark a quieter time in the garden. About this time of year I am ready to wrap it up, except for the vegetable garden of course.

Stay well everyone, and safe. The next few weeks promise to be interesting. We feel in a bit of a bubble up here on the coast in Fort Bragg, but politics is everywhere. There is no escaping although sometimes I wish I could put my head in the sand. The garden is a wonderful escape.