the rain.

one big difference between this year's garden and last, we've barely had to water. it seems to rain a little each day, with a nice big heavy downpour once a week. we've had to give the seedlings water maybe for the first few days their in the ground, but then after they hold up on their own.

i think what is also helping is having a ground cover layer in the bed. it protects the soil from the midday sun keeping it moist and cool. the plants are finally starting to gain some height, and our first little batch of strawberries is almost ripe. in the next few weeks, the sunflowers will form an amazing canopy layer in the foodforest. things are looking up..