These are first year beds. I made them over the winter and this is the first crop to grow in them. They are swales (ditches on contour) with hugelkultur beds just below the swales.

The material is river birch and sweet gum, with some old water oak thrown in for good measure. Compost, soil, leaves and old hay.

Left to right: Asparagus and sunflowers, butternut squash, cantaloupe, cucumbers, strawberries and jarrahdale squash.



The butternuts:


Allstar Strawberries, bought from chefmike's recent co-op here at ATP.


Who says hugelkultur locks up nitrogen during the first year? Tell that to this Jarrahdale squash plant.


Tomatoes and marigolds. Peppers in the bed above.


Mexico Midget tomatoes, bearing fruit in early May:


Yep, we're happy

What an inspiration! (And I wonder if you are going to eat + preserve all that food?)

The food will definitely all be eaten, whether by us, friends, local indigent, and our animals.

Gloria,

With 7 eaters, we eat a LOT of food. I can easily put up 100 quarts of tomatoes for the year. That may or may not see us through.
To make enough veggie juice for one meal, I need about 20 pounds of fruits/veggies. Much less if I use the Vitex blender, of course. But for actual pulp/fiber free juice, it takes about that much and an hour of time.
We process and eat one whole beef, one whole pork, and countless chickens to feed us for one year.
Occasionally we run into a surge that we can't keep up with, and that feeds our chickens or pigs if we have any at that time.
Nothing goes to waste on our farm! Ever!

I sort of know what you mean. I grew up in a family of 7 --5 brothers and my sister and I. I learned to fight early to get my fair share!

The plants sure look healthy, Dave.

Karen

Total gardening inspiration right here on this one thread.

Inspiring and healthy

for healthy.

You get healthy by the physical exercise of making the garden and you stay healthy by eating what the garden will produce. Plus, in a family setting kids are learning skills that will last them a lifetime.

I know I still remember planting and picking strawberries with my Mom some 70 years ago. I began to think something was amiss when I didn't have any strawberries growing here.

Thanks for showing us what can be done.

Wow!

Wow indeed!! Great Job Dave and Trish!!

I harvested potatoes out of these swales last night. I didn't weigh them, but I got bigger yields than I've ever had from a potato crop. One kennebec potato plant produced about 4 very very large tubers as well as 4 or 5 medium sized tubers. I was blown away by how productive these beds are for potatoes!! I can't wait to grow potatoes again this fall.

Excellent, I am excited too.

Well done!

Thank you!

Wonder if you got your potatoes in, Dave?

Same Kennebec?

I never did plant potatoes in the fall, either last year nor this year, because we ate all the potatoes that we harvested in the spring. Nobody around here sells seed potatoes in the fall so we just don't have anything to plant. It's too bad, too. I always think I'll keep back potatoes from my harvest but it never happens. Maybe next year....