5 Week Update BTE Year 1 vs Year 2

The changes in the garden are really getting exciting now as some plants are flowering and setting fruit, the others won't be long behind.

Year 1 (established Feb 2016) to the left of the worm tower and Year 2 (established March 2015) to the right. It's like looking at two starkly different gardens and yet I have treated both the same. The cantaloupe and watermelon plants that are between the cucumbers (center) and the year 1 corn I am supplementing with fertilizer (mix of organic and chemical) weekly since I don't have those plants in the year 2 side and I want them to survive and produce. You can see they are greener than the plants I am not supplementing but aren't thriving in the same way all the plants in year 2 are which I am doing no supplemental fertilizing.

Year 2 side. Front to back: Beans, Limas, squash and zucchini, eggplant, corn, peppers and tomatoes and cucumbers.

Facing south, Year 2 left and Year 1 right. the corn plants visible here are all the same age. amazing what a little decomposition and soil activity can do, right?

Year 1 side of the garden. front to back: beans, eggplant, peppers, sweet potatoes, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, cantaloupe and watermelon

Here are some close up comparisons I did as in week 3 update.

Left: Year 1 corn and tomatoes. Right: Year 2 corn and tomatoes.
Left: Year 1 Zucchini. Right: Year 2 Zucchini
Left: Year 1 green beans. Right Year 2 green beans

The proof is right there, the Back to Eden method works, but it just requires a little patience and a little idle time. Time you can spend doing other things, not time slaving in a garden worrying if your plants are getting enough nutrition or too much. You can leave it to care for itself without worrying about weeds getting out of hand or needing to water through dry spells. It's truly the most relaxing and satisfying way of gardening I've ever tried.

Also at this 5 week mark several of the plants that were started from seed indoors or purchased from a nursery are setting fruit.

 Very healthy peppers that are thick walled and very green. On the year 1 side the pepper plants are not flowering well and have become riddled with holes from teeny caterpillars.

Cucumbers should be ready to start eating very soon, they grow fast. The abundance of flowers on these plants is just staggering.

Tiny tomatoes. it's going to start getting hot soon so I'll be coating my tomatoes with kaolin clay this year so see if it helps with stink bugs. All the large foliage of these year 2 tomato plants shade the fruits so they are less visible to birds and less susceptible to sun burn.