Yesterday, Sylvia and I had lunch with our son, Bryant.  We do that most weeks, and it is one of the highlights of my week when we do.  When I shared what I intended to post today he suggested the title.  I liked it and have chosen to use it today.

A recent heavy frost left most of the garden dead and dying.  Only one zucchini plant escaped.  It alone remains in this year’s garden space.  Everything else has been harvested and removed.

Last zucchini standing

There are three babies on this plant, and so it will remain for a while longer.  Then the tractor and tiller will move through this area and churn it up.  It will be the end of this garden area.

Next year this will be lawn

Pines on the east and a box elder tree on the south keep this area in shade most of the day.  Also, it is in a low place where water run off crosses in heavy rain.

Those whitish looking spots are the remains of newspapers that were used as mulch.  Nobody here likes to pull weeds, so we use the papers.  As you can see it works very well.  The only place that weeds and grass grow is under the fence, which has been removed.

Another reason we are moving the garden is to get it close to the house and the water supply.  We have to drag hose a long way to water the garden.  That’s not fun.

It’s a long way to the house

The new location is just out of the frame to the right of the above picture.  It is much closer.

Much closer to the house and higher

This years garden is 520 square feet in size–about half again larger than it was the year before.  Next year, we’ll have 680 square feet for vegetables plus 204 square feet reserved for perennials.

Another view of the new garden area

I marked out the new location and treated the grass with an herbicide.  The wind was blowing so it carried a bit beyond the intended margins.  We’ll leave a three-foot-wide swath down either side of the length of the garden for perennials.  For us that means asparagus, rhubarb (my favorite) and, of course, some flowers.

This would be tilled now, but the tractor is in the repair shop.  It developed a hydraulic fluid leak.  When that is fixed, I’ll be able to get on with the next phase of tilling and adding some extra top soil and nutrients.  (Plenty of that available here in the country.)

While I wait for the return of the tractor, three zucchinis are growing.  That’s okay with me.