2018 Garden

Over the past winter, I uncovered the long-neglected garden beds at my SW Portland house. The large, terraced planters have excellent soil despite going entirely unused by the previous owner. I built a new concrete-and-gravel access pathway, cleared weeds, transplanted a few trees from Raindance Ranch, and added terraced mass-plantings of flowering perennials to frame the garden area.

I started most of the plants from seed, and used a number of my grandmother’s starts as well. This year’s garden included the following:

  • Two Zucchini Plants (yielded 15-20 zucchinis each)
  • Five Pumpkin Plants (yielded 12 total pumpkins)
  • Sunflowers: traditional and sunset-colored, both varieties reaching 12-foot heights
  • Six Heirloom Tomato Plants: Back Prince, Purple Cherokee (2), Mortgage Lifter, Orange, Yellow (yielded 15-30 per plant)
  • Bell Peppers: two plants produced peppers late in the season
  • Blackberries: extensive pruning and root-ball removal of the invasive plants throughout my lot enabled access to a productive wall of berries that I intend to preserve with careful maintenance
  • Strawberries, Raspberries, and Blueberries: group plantings of these biennials/perennials are getting established and should have better yields next year
  • Apples, Asian Pears, Persimmons: four trees are being established and should being production next year

Here is a selection of the best photos from this year’s garden:

 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *