The Great Wall of Tomatoes - Part I

The great wall of tomatoes is a wonderful thing. I had my husband erect a trellis for me several years ago that borders the broadside of my neighbors silver-blue garage. The great wall of tomatoes is 30' long. For years I have successfully grown my tomatoes here, spaced about a food apart. While reading as much as I can on permaculture, I discovered that this IS permaculture -- I just didn't know it at the time I created it. The silver-blue garage on the north side of the Great Wall of Tomatoes creates a microclimate by reflecting the sunlight, so I am able to sneak in my tomatoes in April and sometime grow them well into November (we are a zone 6, expecting frost till April 30). To the south, my tomatoes are protected by a windbreak comprised of the shed and our parking area. I have grown my tomatoes with basil between them and this year I plan to also grow them with carrots, basil and the occasional naturtium tucked between the plants. Okay...only another 5 months before I can post a picture of The Great Wall of Tomatoes bursting forth with beautiful red fruit.

The Birth of the Dancing Butterfly

Ten years ago when I bought this house I was by myself and I had never even owned a shovel. I had a dirt and a dream so I mail ordered a bunch of flowers I liked, and knowing nothing planted them in the front yard which I had managed to entirely flip over the sod and created a mucky mess. My dear plants were not growing fastenough so I bought a lot of things marked invasive and agressive because I thought they'd fill in quickly. I spent the next 6 years experimenting and propagating and soon discovered that I could grown not only flowers, but my own food! I began experimenting with veggies as well and even started to do some intensive raised beds. Since we are homeschoolerd my 4 kids do a lot of garden centered projects to keep us out doors as soon as the weather is over 50. So last summer I stared to take out and freecycle anything that was strickly ornamental and did not benefit us or some creature we like in some way and began making plans to replace them with usable plants. My lack of trust in the food supply, the growing grocery bill, and that I just plain love to be outside compelled me to plant more food plants. Besides, I just couldn't understand for the life of me why the cost of apples from New Zealand were less in my local grocery than apples grown here in the US. My garden style has never been to line up my plants like little soldiers all in a row. While working in my garden to tear out some overgrown coreopteris, I watched a tiger swallowtail seem to dance with the other butterflies in the garden. It was the male butterfly aggresively defending his territory but didn't they look beutiful engaged in this wild flurry of color? Then I received this vision: TheDancing Butterfly. My garden would become The Dancing Butterfly, that is, I would aggresively defend my territory, my little spot on this planet, with a look of beauty and grace, just like the dancing butterfly.