Gardening

There are flower gardens, vegetable gardens, kitchen gardens, and truck gardens. We all know about flower, vegetable and kitchen gardens even if we aren't gardeners. But what grows in a "truck garden"? Surely not trucks.

Truck garden is just another name for a "market garden" where vegetables are grown to be sold locally, often in local "farmers' markets". Because freshness is a requirement and the produce is often perishable it is "trucked" to market as soon as possible after picking. Hence the nineteenth century name which is seldom heard these days. But the practice is alive and well, even growing in some places. Many of us still scurry down as early as possible on market days to get the best berries or veggies, knowing they'll be picked over if not completely gone by 9 or 10 a.m.

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I know very little about gardening of any kind, but that's my current project, which is why I included it in the challenge. It gives me a chance to articulate my ideas and research as I develop my hopes for this summer.

I call these "hopes, not "plans" because I called them plans last year and never got beyond the hoping stage. There are two areas behind my house where I want to plant something attractive that requires little care. Choosing the right plants was the purpose of yesterday's post on Flowers.

Behind my garage there is a 20 x 20 foot area that is lumpy, with buried concrete chunks and a lot of clay and weeds. It needs to be evened out and a layer of good dirt laid down. Farther back is another plot the same size on which stood a cottage until recently.

                            

It was charming but unstable, and the cost to repair it was too high. Some buried trash remains to be removed and the whole area smoothed out. There's black dirt which will be fine for planting. 

Here's the back yard layout, not to scale but it gives a good sense of proportion. One plot for attention is between the Garage and "Ret wall" (retaining wall with a white picket fence on it). The other is below the label Retaining Wall on the layout where the cottage was.

Here is how the yard looked last summer with the cottage intact. The garage is on the left, white picket fence behind it on the retaining wall, labeled "Ret wall" in the layout above. The lower left area below the label "Retaining Wall" is where the cottage stood. (See it way in the back.) 

It's clear from the picture above that there is lots traditional gardening area which I do easily, but I can't add to it the preparation, planting and maintenance of the two new areas. They need to be "plowed" with something motorized, and the one between the garage and picket fence also needs a load of dirt laid. It's time to have that done and I think I have the man for the job. I hope to schedule him in the next few days and I'll report on that as a PS on this post.