Regular readers may remember that we plant in raised beds and raised rows. My plan for this year's garden was to make everything in four foot raised beds with three foot paths, making sort of a giant plaid garden, but I found it labor intensive to do all at once, and the season is getting old on me, so Steve tilled the second half of the garden for me again and I'm going to go ahead and do the rest of it in rows this year. 28 or 29 four-foot beds and five, maybe six rows, we'll have. I have one row pulled up and need to pull the rest of the rows up and get them planted. Beans, beets, carrots and whatever else I have out there to plant. Squash. Melons. Sweet Potatoes. Sunflowers. We have 'taters & onions in the ground. Also need to form some sort of trellis for the peas that are standing a foot tall all by themselves. This year's garden will be 2.5 times bigger than last year's! We are also planting grass in all that the bare soil around the barn.
I hope to see the Golden Digger Wasps again this year. I was fascinated by them last year, but it seemed they mostly nested in the ground where our barn now stands. There were a few around the base of the Cypress tree Genevieve, so hopefully some of those will be able to emerge and carry on with their life cycle. Fascinating, Golden Digger Wasps. Larger than your mud daubers and your paper nest wasps, these thread-waisted wasps excavate a chamber in the ground, where they lay their eggs. They bring stunned insects such as green catydids, which they take into the chamber and install with the eggs for their babies' nourishment until they can come out of the ground and continue the cycle. These wasps are not aggressive, but if you walk a little nearer their work than they wish, they will "fly loud," hovering in such a manner as to buzz, as a warning. Live and let live. I spent hours watching these girls last summer, and hope some have survived for this season.
Going to go watch a Hallmark Hall of Fame Classic Movie now, about Lois Wilson, wife of Bill Wilson, Co-Founder of AA. Should be a real tear-jerker!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
2010 Spring and Garden Report
I am thrilled to report that all my potatoes are now planted!
Pontiac Reds, because they are pretty, taste good, and are good keepers. Pontiac Reds have, of course, a red skin, and white flesh. I planted some when I got them as soon as the ground could be worked in January, and those are up now, noticeably growing daily.
Yukon Golds, because there's still a sense of novelty about them, we like the way they look, and they taste good. Yukon Gold Potatoes have a tan to blond skin and yellow flesh. They look like they've already been buttered! We should have plenty of 'taters this year!
Got several varieties of sweet onions - "candy", "Super Sweet," and "1015" onions. I also still have some red onions that I need to plant.
We picked up a couple kinds of tomatoes and some jalapenos and some leeks, which are in the ground. Got those planted a couple days before we had a little burst of hail storm. Had enough hail that it drifted several inches deep of little pea to marble sizes on the south side of the house. Once the garden path dried enough that I could walk out there again, I notice many little craters, which are impact marks from the hail! I was really worried about the plants I had just set out, but they all look okay.
Got a couple each of Blueberry and Blackberry bushes, still in their buckets. Still deciding where to put them, since they stay put once planted. In reading about what a Blueberry likes, I think Blueberries and we can have a very happy mutual relationship here. They are said to appreciate acidic soil, and to be mulched with shredded pine needles and oak leaves, both of which we have in abundance. I would be thrilled to displace the poison ivy with Blueberries!
Some of the new little strawberry plants are breaking ground.
I wish I was set up to make jelly, because the dandelions are blooming RIGHT NOW, but perhaps next spring.
The "sweet bushes" are in bloom, too, and man, oh, man does it smell good out here right now! We call them "Sweet Bushes" because they have something of a shrub habit, like a bush, and when they flower in spring,the aroma is nearly intoxicating, very sweet. They are also known as Silverberries and seem to be related to olives.
We have some little volunteer trees in the woods back of the house that I suspect may be peach trees. Of course they've never been tended, and are located in an area that has been in full shade during the height of summer, so they haven't fruited well, but I know where they are, now (thanks to the flowers). I'll look after them and tend them, see if I can't help them do something amazing.
We finally got to the point that we were able to move the tool trailer out from in front of the house. We'll be able to mow there, now, get the grass growing there again. and it just looks better already with that space clear. Much discussion as to where to put it - not beside the barn, where local trailer thieves can easily see it, nor behind the barn, where it is difficult to place. I just couldn't bring myself to spring for storage fees again - they give you a decent deal on the first three months, but after that, it's through the roof! So we ended up taking it out to my folks' place, where it can be safely out of the way. (Big Sigh of Relief.)
That's all for now - Happy Spring!
Pontiac Reds, because they are pretty, taste good, and are good keepers. Pontiac Reds have, of course, a red skin, and white flesh. I planted some when I got them as soon as the ground could be worked in January, and those are up now, noticeably growing daily.
Yukon Golds, because there's still a sense of novelty about them, we like the way they look, and they taste good. Yukon Gold Potatoes have a tan to blond skin and yellow flesh. They look like they've already been buttered! We should have plenty of 'taters this year!
Got several varieties of sweet onions - "candy", "Super Sweet," and "1015" onions. I also still have some red onions that I need to plant.
We picked up a couple kinds of tomatoes and some jalapenos and some leeks, which are in the ground. Got those planted a couple days before we had a little burst of hail storm. Had enough hail that it drifted several inches deep of little pea to marble sizes on the south side of the house. Once the garden path dried enough that I could walk out there again, I notice many little craters, which are impact marks from the hail! I was really worried about the plants I had just set out, but they all look okay.
Got a couple each of Blueberry and Blackberry bushes, still in their buckets. Still deciding where to put them, since they stay put once planted. In reading about what a Blueberry likes, I think Blueberries and we can have a very happy mutual relationship here. They are said to appreciate acidic soil, and to be mulched with shredded pine needles and oak leaves, both of which we have in abundance. I would be thrilled to displace the poison ivy with Blueberries!
Some of the new little strawberry plants are breaking ground.
I wish I was set up to make jelly, because the dandelions are blooming RIGHT NOW, but perhaps next spring.
The "sweet bushes" are in bloom, too, and man, oh, man does it smell good out here right now! We call them "Sweet Bushes" because they have something of a shrub habit, like a bush, and when they flower in spring,the aroma is nearly intoxicating, very sweet. They are also known as Silverberries and seem to be related to olives.
We have some little volunteer trees in the woods back of the house that I suspect may be peach trees. Of course they've never been tended, and are located in an area that has been in full shade during the height of summer, so they haven't fruited well, but I know where they are, now (thanks to the flowers). I'll look after them and tend them, see if I can't help them do something amazing.
We finally got to the point that we were able to move the tool trailer out from in front of the house. We'll be able to mow there, now, get the grass growing there again. and it just looks better already with that space clear. Much discussion as to where to put it - not beside the barn, where local trailer thieves can easily see it, nor behind the barn, where it is difficult to place. I just couldn't bring myself to spring for storage fees again - they give you a decent deal on the first three months, but after that, it's through the roof! So we ended up taking it out to my folks' place, where it can be safely out of the way. (Big Sigh of Relief.)
That's all for now - Happy Spring!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)