My gardens right now... and a mind-controlling cabbage

I figure it's high time to post some garden photos!

Here are some of my new perennial beds, built from reclaimed cinderblock taken from a demolition site:

The stick in the middle of the long bed to the left is an astringent Japanese persimmon tree. They really don't get all that large so I figured why not include one in my garden?

Around it are various raspberry varieties I'm testing, along with some herbs, a perennial marigold, cutleaf coneflowers, and Lion's ear plants for the pollinators.

In the long bed to the back is one of my moringa trees, a lemon balm, a variegated shell ginger and a Red Angel pomegranate tree with a birdhouse hanging askew in it. In the mulch of that bed I also planted a lot of turmeric roots which probably won't pop up until May or so.

This piece of fence below will soon have a row of espaliered fruit trees planted in front of it, with perennial vegetables, berries and flowers interspersed beneath them:

You can just see the wire I strung earlier this week as a support for branches. The strip will be 4' wide, with nitrogen fixers dotted amongst the other plants.

I think I'll call it my Four-Foot Food Forest.

Very exciting. It's going to be epic.

Now here's a shot of my annual beds as seen from between the Red Angel pomegranate and the moringa tree:

Some of those beds contain turnips, cauliflower, collards, beets and daikons.

This is my main daikon/beet bed:

Here's another angle:

Rachel has been using the Whizbang Wheel hoe on the paths to keep them clear. I took photos right after she finished this section. It's a seriously simple tool to use and makes hoeing a pleasure rather than a chore.

Speaking of things that aren't chores... here's a cauliflower we just harvested:



That clocked in at just under 2lbs and had a rich, nutty flavor that beats the tar out of anything I could buy at the store.

On the other side of the white fence where I keep some of my nursery stock, I have a couple of long beds I decided to create using plastic sheeting with holes cut for the transplants. They've done really, really well.

We have a lot of cabbages growing. They're just so cool-looking in the garden I feel compelled to plant them over and over again.

Perhaps all the sauerkraut I make has changed the DNA of my brain, but isn't this the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen?

I don't know if I should say this... but my cabbage actually talks to me. In my mind. 

Like... ALL THE TIME.

In fact... I think I can hear it talking to me right now...

CABBAGE: DAVID

Can you hear it? It's... it's...

CABBAGE: DAVID

I hear you, master.

CABBAGE: COME OUTSIDE AND FEED US

But... I'm working on my blog...!

CABBAGE: IRRELEVANT - YOU MUST OBEY

I...

CABBAGE: OBEY

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