My garden

Two years ago, the back of our yard was a gravel parking area. It was the best place for a garden--full sun, no trees nearby to shade it--but the gravel meant I had to build up with raised beds, rather than dig down into the soil. I got a huge pile of free wood chips from a tree removal company, so those are spread as mulch between the raised beds. Here's what my garden looks like today:

Top beds: 1) beets and some mystery squash/melons, 2) herbs
Middle beds: 1) carrots, 2) tomatoes (mostly Cherokee Purple), shallots, garlic
Bottom bed in the retaining wall: raspberries & strawberries

Top beds (notice the last few fence panels that need to go up): 1) strawberries 2) compost pile/brown matter/compost tumbler
Middle beds: 1) Masai variety bush beans 2) edamame & more bush beans
Bed alongside the garage: blackberries, asparagus, and (harvested) onion patch

Fruit bed that wraps around the swingset: 2 honeyberries, 3 red currants, 3 gooseberries, 3 juneberries.
You can see my shadow--I'm standing on the top of the play house to take the picture.
We also have a 4x10 bed right outside our kitchen door, with tomatoes, potatoes, & herbs.
And lots of mystery melons and squashes in our compost pile & in the jungle behind our garage. I spotted an acorn squash plant but the rest I don't recognize.

Things have been growing vigorously this season, but it seems I've harvested surprisingly little. Other gardener friends of my have made the same remark. My onions & beets were disappointingly small. My carrots, on the other hand, are long and straight and lovely. The beans & herbs have done well, while tomatoes and potatoes got the blight again. I saved most of the tomato plants with a copper spray, but the potatoes finally gave up the ghost. I need to harvest several of the beds and plant beets, kale, salad greens, spinach, and whatever else will grow quickly enough for a fall harvest.

This last picture is a homage to Craiglist--$150 for the whole swingset, including delivery! There's an I-beam for a tire swing on the other side of the playhouse.