Okay, yes, it is late Thursday night and by the time most of you see this, it will be Friday. What can I say, it has been a long week. Now that I'm back in the garden again, I'm hoping to start posting regular garden and yard pictures and updates on, you know, Wednesdays. For now, just work with me, will ya people?
As usual at this time of year, there is a mad dash to get everything in the ground in time to take advantage of the limited growing season we get here in Upstate NY. But this year the process has been complicated by Extremely Rude and Erratic Weather. It stayed cold long past the time when the planting season would usually have begun (there was still snow on the ground in early April, when I'd normally plant lettuce, spinach, peas, and such) and then it got insanely hot. Before getting cold again. (We've had a frost warning this week and there is another one for Friday night.) So the planting has all been compressed into an even smaller window than usual, and I'm just hoping for the best.
On the bright side, I got a huge truck load of 2 year old composted horse manure, which will give my garden a much needed boost (and no, it doesn't smell at all). This made me ridiculously happy. And since my garden is across the yard from where the pile was dumped, is negating the need for any visits to the gym anytime soon, as I shovel a load into a wheelbarrow, push it across the yard, then shovel it back out again inside the garden. I'm so happy about the manure, I don't even mind the hard work. Yes, I do realize this means I need to get a life.
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| Ye Olde Pile of Poop and a yellow wheelbarrow |
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| Manure pile to the left by the barn. Garden to the right. |
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| In we go |
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| And a happy raised bed topped off with manure |
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| The strawberries, and the garlic behind them, get sidedressed, which means that the manure is spread between the rows. |
Some other early sights in the spring garden:
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| A handsome frog, sitting on the pond filter, looking unimpressed by my efforts |
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| Fish, ditto |
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| The big green patch is spinach that overwintered and the little bitty things are spinach and lettuce started this season. The long tomato in the cage has already had to be covered a number of times due to frost threat, so the rest go in later. |
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| Eggplant plants on the left and onions on the right, from the local garden center. They're still pretty spindly looking. |
Do you plant a garden? Or do you wish you could? What is your favorite thing to grow?
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All I can seem to grow is mold. :)
ReplyDeleteMy Mother could grow absolutely anything. Sadly, I did not inherit her green thumb. I do, however, buy from local farmers as often as possible.
Maybe you should try growing mushrooms? (They're a kind of mold spore, actually.)
DeleteYou have such a nice garden array! I miss gardening. I grew up enjoying fresh eggs from my paternal grandmother's hens, fresh citrus and avocados from my aunt's trees and having fresh strawberries, watermelon, tomatoes, string beans and lettuce from our own small garden that we had a few years while growing up. In my adult life I've tried gardening a few items but I'm currently in an apartment so I don't actively garden. If I could, I would have my own little self sustaining organic garden with a little bit of the things we regularly enjoy at home: spinach, root veggies, mushrooms, sweet onions, string beans, garlic, herbs, citrus, apples, avocados and some hens for my fresh eggs. Give me an English Country cottage in the middle of the woods by a stream or lake with all the wonderful wildlife and fairies and I will be as happy as a younger version of Little Red Riding Hood's grandma! :) ~ Sofia
ReplyDeleteThat sounds pretty perfect, Sofia. I bought a house after years of living in apartments specifically because I needed to have a garden!
DeleteI can appreciate that :-) You have such a nice home. Circumstances being what they are though, my present home is an apartment but I have a feeling it will not always be and so I look forward to gardening again :-) as well as having more animal friends around. When I've lived in homes, there's always a rabbit or hare visitor whom I affectionately name Peter (even though I know it is not the same one each time). Regardless of where I move, Peter always makes his presence known in my new home. It was a comforting thing for me and we enjoyed each other's company. Such nice memories. In the meantime, we enjoy what we can with what we have in the here and now. :-) (I gotta figure out how to sign on properly to your site so I can post under my name as opposed to anonymously.) ~ Sofia
DeleteI have lots of adorable rabbits here :-)
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