Everything is still growing bit by bit.  Can definitely tell a difference between last year and this year with regards to the speed at which things are growing.  We attribute that to the difference in planting in the dirt we brought in for the beds…it has a higher organic content and is looser, providing better drainage and space for roots to spread…vs. the native dirt we slightly amended last year.  Makes all the difference in the world.

As you can see from the pictures there’s also some new stuff.  Chief among them being our little shade area.  We bought a Pottery Barn umbrella and had Quikcrete donate a pot to our cause.  We filled the pot up with crushed ruck about two thirds of the way with a 2 inch PVC pipe in the center.  The last third we filled with planting soil which will be planted with the succulents you see.  The umbrella slides into the PVC pipe. Additional succulents will be planted in the ground around the bottom of the pot.

You can also see in the berry planter (left planter in the right picture) the 8 new strawberry plants as well as the 2 blueberry bushes.

You can also see that we added additional structures for the tomatoes and cucumbers to grow on (we still need to anchor them better).  We’re conducting an experiment to see what we prefer…on one side we’re using metal trellis’ and on the other side we’re using the circular wire cylinders.

We also began the process of laying bark mulch in the paths so that we won’t be walking on bare, dusty earth.  All the paths will be covered in mulch little by little until it’s done.