This is what I started with - it is a 20 x 20 ft square. The soil is sandy, but has a good amount of organic material in it. In the background we have a concrete shuffle board court from way back in the day (it is not in use now). In this picture there are some collard greens in the far left, okra in the close right, onions in the back right, and peanuts in the close left. I had to remove the collards, as they were dying - though I've heard that some people can keep collards going for 10 years or more!
This garden is located in zone 9ish, though some consider us in 10. So about late june I planted some more okra, southern peas and a sweet potato. It was a little late for these, but I have heard that southern peas make a good green mulch after a season, and they also fix nitrogen in the soil.
These are the rows I planted for the southern peas, and the okra joined the other already successful plant. If you are interested in the timing of these, I've included my garden calendar.
Here is the garden after a few weeks! Early on, when the beans were about 6 in. high, I fought an infestation of aphids on the beans, but after 3 or so days in a row of spraying with soapy water, they were gone. if you notice the darker spots in the upper left hand side, these are mounds I've prepared for the fall garden - I plan on attempting the 3 sisters method for corn, beans, and squash! Notice that the southern peas are vining! This is interesting because the same seeds did not vine in the spring. An IFAS document on commercially planting southern peas mentioned that summer southern peas are not recommended as the heat gives them a tendency to vine and the yields are lower. Luckily for us, we're not too interested in a super high yield.
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