Well, the 2012 growing season retreated after a successful extended engagement- there were both watermelons and serrano peppers until the first frost, making for lots of fresh-fruit-and-spicy-egg breakfasts. When it was finally time to break it all down and prep for the season to come, the keyhole looked a little worse for wear- continued subsidence and outward pressure continued its slow assault on the structure to the point that I had to take the `finger-in-the-dike` approach to keeping it intact.
Fallen, and can`t get up.
That ought to hold for ... ?
Like the staves of a barrel, the planks have to be bound at the top. Trust me- with all the dirt it`s holding back, that nylon rope is tight.
So with the settling of the garden composite it`s a foregone conclusion that more dirt and amendments will need to be added from season to season. I was a tad more resourceful this year in my fill- first, back in early Fall 2012 there was a FreeCycle posting for topsoil (that ended up being mostly St. Augustine sod) which required a pickup- talk about your Sisyphean undertaking, trying to push a full wheelbarrow up the ramp of a rental truck. Then there were the ashes of my Aggie bonfire-in-miniature, which, when mixed with some of last season`s remaining river bottom loam, made for a pretty mineral-rich amendment.
(L to R) raw ashes, formerly soddy topsoil, ash/loam amendment
So... when all mixed together I have to say it looked like I was once again ready for another boom year.
Not so fast, my friend.
I started out with a mixture of pole beans from seed, and some strawberry varieties for the cinder block voids, but with all the watering and a couple of decent rains, it seemed like the compositions was taking on a hardpan consistency. The expected kudzu-like behavior of the sprouting beans was replaced with a rather slow subsurface ascent, and the strawberries... well, they didn`t die- that`s about all to be said.
I needed compost, and fast.
I managed to extract 3 barrows-full from the compost corral across the yard during a needed turning, thus adding a good 4 inches of top cover to the floundering keyhole. After three days, and some needed rain, things were already on the uptake!
Suspension trellis- that`s another story (but is it worth telling?)
Strawberries are perking up.
Early members of this year`s class- (front to rear) icebox watermelon (mini), pole beans, Sun Gold cherry tomatoes.
There will be more to come. I might even open it up to the universe, if you`d like to offer a suggestion!
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