The garden has been tilled (although still a bit too wet) and then landscape fabric overlaid and clamped down with rocks and pavers. And this is how it will be for the next two years, until noxious weed succumbs. Of course, this makes growing beets difficult, if not impossible. So for next fall's picking we will be using a crop grown by a local farmer Abby has identified. Actually, some beets grown by this farmer were included in last fall's batch—because noxious weed necessitated pulling our entire first planting.

This year the Whitewater garden will be limited to tomatoes (just a few) and winter squash, primarily Oregon Homestead Sweet Meat. I'm hoping for enough of these delicious squash to last from Halloween until Memorial Day.

The Kagawong garden, on the other hand, is going to be much more experimental. Now that it is fenced and covered (with bird netting) there should be little predation. And, for the first month or so, it will be wrapped in plastic, making it a mini-greenhouse. I'm hoping to grow lots of stuff way earlier than possible.

Good buds. And here is a lady beetle snuggled into a cluster swamp white oak buds.