Summer Gardening

Miss Daffodil and I dug and dug (and sweated and sweated, might I add), and planted a summer Three Sister's Garden. I was actually quite impressed with the little three year old who was willing to go out with me almost everyday for 3 weeks to dig up the dirt and prepare the ground. (Yes three weeks! Have pity on me...it's hot here in California, and I just had a baby. Ok, so she's 6 months old, but still...) AND Miss Daffodil was actually a big help! Being novice gardeners, we decided on a Three Sister's Garden. What is a Three Sister's Garden you might ask?

It is an ancient method of gardening using an intercropping system which grows corn, beans, and squash crops simultaneously in the same growing area that is typically a rounded mound of soil, often called a hill.
Corn is the oldest sister. She stands tall in the center.
Squash is the next sister. She grows over the mound, protecting her sisters from weeds and shades the soil from the sun with her leaves, keeping it cool and moist.
Beans are the third sister. She climbs through squash and then up corn to bind all together as she reaches for the sun. Beans help keep the soil fertile by coverting the sun's energy into nitrogen filled nodules that grow on its roots. As beans grow they use the stored nitrogen as food.

And here is our garden 1 month later.

More pictures to follow.

Happy summer to you!