The Garden, part 1

I often write about the garden, and I have had several requests from occasional readers of the blog to show some pictures.  Well, I will do so, but I think in all fairness I will have to show some "before and after"  pictures.  So this part one will consist of the "before" pictures.  "After"  pictures will follow.

We moved into this little corner of the Texas Hill Country in November, 2008.  The one acre plot did have some grass and plantings around the house, but most of the lot consisted of rocks--thousands (millions?) of the native limestone.  Some small rocks, but a lot of boulders.

And, of course, prickly pear cactus!  What you cannot tell from these pictures is that most of the rocks rest comfortably below the surface of the soil.  Stick a fork in the soil, and you hit a rock!

On average, there is about four inches of limey (alkaline) topsoil in the landscape.  Below that topsoil are rocks.

I spent the spring and summer of 2009 trying to figure out what the deer would not eat.  The problem was that this area was in the midst of a drought and the deer population was very stressed.  The result was, they seemed to eat everything--discouraging, to say the least.

The challenges were, then, first, to work around the rocks; second, to secure enough real soil that plants could grow; and third, to keep Bambi and his extended family OUT.

The solution was to dig out as many rocks as possible--slowly, one rock at a time; and then to construct raised beds.  The project began in earnest in September, 2009--after the blistering heat of summer had dissipated.

This is the first raised bed, looking very lonely in the midst of weeds and rocks--a shot taken after the long, hot summer of 2009 was coming to an end.

This is not to say that nothing ever grew in this barren soil.  During the summer, even in the middle of a drought, this area was absolutely filled with thistles.

How many thistle seeds (which look like dandelion seeds) do you figure were lying in the thin soil waiting to spring forth in the spring of 2010?

Emboldened by that one modest raised bed, more were undertaken.  And, of course, the area was enclosed by a deer-proof fence (which has proved reliable in its first year of use--excepting the fawn which managed to sneak through.)

As rocks came out of the ground, the natural thing to do was to use them in constructing walls and a path to the garden.  Did you ever wonder why New England has so many picturesque rock walls?  What else were farmers to do with the rocks they dug out of the soil in their attempt to cultivate fields to be productive?

So that's how the garden began through the winter of 2009 and the beginning of 2010.  In my next post, I will display some "after"  pictures.  Not that the project is completed: a garden is always a work in progress!