Visitors to my Internet Gardening and other web pages sometimes ask about my personal garden. In response, I'll be posting here a few photos of my 2008 garden, the 29th garden located at 2,100 feet above sea level in the beautiful mountains and valleys of southwest Virginia.
The great joy of vegetable gardening is that each year you get to plant a new garden. The mistakes of past years are wiped away, and the earth and my spirit is renewed. Past years in the garden from 2002 through 2007 are on the following pages, beginning with the year when I bought my first digital camera.
Aerobic Garden 2007 (young gardeners get their hands on the tiller)
Aerobic Garden 2006 (encountering some really tall lettuce, and digging potatoes)
Aerobic Garden 2005 (remembering Blaktopp and the joy of young gardeners)
Aerobic Garden 2004 (learn why my garden is
"aerobic")
Aerobic Garden 2002-2003
Abundant rain and mild weather resulted in an April of special beauty this year as the flowering trees, forsythia, daffodils, and tulips seemed more glorious than usual.
Freshly tilled earth is to a gardener what a clean canvas is to a painter. By late last week I had tilled most of the garden plot and set out the broccoli plants. Then I seeded double rows of Swiss chard, spinach, beets, lettuce, and two kinds of radishes. The rains of this past weekend were perfectly timed to prepare the way for the summer crops I'll plant in mid-May.
This evening, following a couple of days of rain, I slogged through the freshly tilled but now muddy earth to my asparagus patch. The asparagus is just coming into full production for this year, with most of the 20 crowns beginning to produce edible stalks. I picked 1-1/2 pounds, some to give to a friend, and some for my own supper. For the next few weeks I should be picking one to two pounds of asparagus every day or two.
I have no pictures to share as yet. The very early garden is a delight when you are up close with your hands in the soil, but my photos never seem to capture that experience. But in a few weeks I should have some photos to share. Meanwhile, you may want to view the garden in past years by clicking on the links at the top of this page.
Page created 4/22/2008
Updated 4/22/2008
Harry_M_Kriz, [hmkriz@vt.edu]
University Libraries
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0434