Join us in a walk in our country vegetable and tomato garden. This is Plant Exchange Blog where we feature plants of the Northern Plains and people who grow them.
We started our garden the second week of June in a cool, wet spring. Tree leaves that were spread over the garden to cover it last fall have either decomposed or were raked to the perimeters at planting time.
The ground hasn’t been tilled in three years. As long as planting occurs before the dry mid-season, the sandy loam soil is quite workable. Adding organic matter such as leaves, grass clippings and straw that are available here, contributes to the workable soil over time.
Weeding the garden space takes longer the first time before planting and now requires about 10 minutes for a 12-foot square garden. Limiting extra moisture for weeds helps slow their growth.
After planting transplants and seeds and adding a nitrogen fertilizer, soaker hose was positioned on the uphill side of rows. This is the only time fertilizer is added. The garden space is on an incline. Elsewhere in the yard, garden beds are planted in other shapes than rows. In this setting, the soaker performs better to water each plant if they are quite near the soaker; hence the rows. Grass clippings cover the soaker hose and surround each plant.
This video shows the garden and how it is maintained in mid-season before production.
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Happy summer day!
Plant Exchange Blog 
Where did all those vegetables come from? For a minute, I was thinking they came from that garden! We don’t have that much eggplant yet, and we have a much longer growing season.