This is a story of how these vegetables and flowers were produced in a home garden in the Sacramento Valley:

Kelsey and Steven recently purchased a house in Elk Grove. Kelsey is a great cook and had a dream of making a large garden to provide food for them.

The only problem was the soil at the new house was compacted clay and DG (decomposed granite), as well as up to 6″ of gravel:

Steven is a former landscaper so he knew what to do. He rented a Bobcat with an 18″ auger to drill through that hard clay and DG soil:

The tractor was used to dig up old roots and spread out the soil:

Many yards of compost were spread out over the entire yard:

Kelsey had been collecting and saving plants in pots waiting for the day she could start planting:

Here are the results of her planting less than a year after they bought the house:

31 tomato plants of 21 different varieties were planted and here are the varieties:

Raised planting beds were built and they planted lettuce, herbs, squash, beans, watermelons, peppers and other produce:

Here are the results of the crops:

They planted fruit trees (some were in large pots) and grape vines.

Here are three photos of the crops:

Kelsey also planted zinnias, Dahlias, Hollyhocks, wildflowers, Delphiniums, Clematis and many other flowers.

Can you believe all of this came from one yard in one year?

This was part of the dinner they fed me when I was over there:

Steven says they have run out of ground and need to move up into the foothills and get some acreage. Kelsey teaches piano to child prodigies and there aren’t too many of them up there.

Kelsey makes beautiful vegetable collages.