This weekend we finally finished the grape arbor / gateway to the orchard, and with your help, filled in the last row in the garden. Last year we planted 2 grapes on either side of a place where we imagined building pretty much exactly what you see above… a birch frame and arch, with a ladder up the sides for the grapes to climb up and over the structure, creating an arbor and gateway into the orchard. We got the frame and the first rung of the ladder built a couple of weeks ago, which gave the grapes something to grab on to, but they soon were looking to climb higher. We’ve been working on clearing out the thicket between the garden and the orchard, and taking out a few of these small birches served two purposes, and actually a third, as the goats were happy to munch all the leaves off the upper branches.
Thanks to everyone who weighed in on Facebook with suggestions on what we should plant in the last row of the garden. We actually had an empty row and a half, so we ended up planting 3 half rows: arugula and beets, the popular favorites on Facebook, and also a half row of broccoli raab, a bitter green that we love, and that we’ve had little success with in the past, and want to keep trying to get right.