I’ve come to a sort-of “complete” in my garden. Not that I think it ever really happens: gardens are changing so often. There’s always something to be done. But for now, I’ve finished planting and added the final touch of bark mulch. The final plant was native sticky geraniums (Geranium viscosissimum) that I was happy to find at McCoard’s Garden Center in Provo. Went there to check them out, and they had exactly what I wanted. Really a good selection, including a lot of native plants.

After planting those, and waiting a couple weeks I was thinking something was missing. Than I realized it: bark mulch. So happy I didn’t forget. Bark mulch has the benefit of making it look pretty, along with keeping it evenly moist, preventing weeds, and adding organic matter. I’ve also found it useful because I water by hand with a bucket (the sprinklers don’t reach most of it: glad I went with water-wise plants) and the mulch helps the water from gorging my soil. Here’s the final (for now) flower bed:

My vegetables are also doing really well. I staked the tomatoes up with two tomato stakes and sting in between. I needed to do something, and that’s what I had on hand. It’s worked out pretty well. The only downside right now is my Roma is getting out competed by the other varieties (one’s brandywine and I have no idea what the third is). I love romas. But it does have the most fruit on it right now. I’ve had a few radishes and greens (beets and swiss chard) so far–another month and I’ll be picking everything else.