Oh goodness....let's try this again! April 2023

 I have resisted even the MEAGEREST of garden journaling, even ignoring the pretty book I bought. Until this year when a friend at work suggested we journal stuff, and we would talk about it on Sundays when we worked. So... she started and I did not. Then... I just started.

So I've got handwritten journal entries.  Those have been somewhat easier as I keep the journal on the patio (a new edition, but that's another story) and write down things as they happen...INCLUDING wildlife sights and sounds.  Thus far we can count cats, several birds, raccoons, skunks, and as of a couple of nights ago, a toad sighting on the front porch where the bugs congregate around the light.  

I am not going to get distracted right now with pictures. I just want to get caught up. So we'll start with my entries for April.

4/8/2023  

• Birds I have heard, but yet seen (thanks to Merlin app) -- Northern Flicker, Bluebird
• New sunroom (the aforementioned patio) final walk through is Monday
• Getting late start but...
• Testing seed packs for viability. It says to check in 3 weeks but I may not wait that long
• Sugar snap peas
• Cilantro
• Orach
• Anna-something lettuce (my handwriting remains horrendous)
• Jericho lettuce
• Romaine lettuce
• Swiss Chard
• Buttercrunch lettuce
• Broccoli
• Spinach
• Danvers carrots
• Soil temperature is 47 degrees so still too early.
• Filled main bird feeder, ground feeder, meal worm cups and last suet cake
• FIRST BEES SEEN!!!

4/10/2023

• More clearing of future perennial vegetable plot - I had planted winter rye over the winter (duh); clearing it out was not quite as easy as advertised, at least in my beds
• Discovered the hand sickle is REALLY SHARP.
• Captured Goldfinch song on Merlin -- they are back!! filled and hung seed socks.
• Heard Bluebird again
• Other newbies heard:
• Worm-eating Warbler
• Tufted titmous
• Saw red head or downy woodpecker (couldn't get good look)

4/15/2023

• Planted 2 asparagus crowns from Jennifer. Tried to move the third one I have established into that bed, but it's pretty well in there; may need Jim's help, or just wait until after the season.

4/16/2023

• Replanted asparagus right side up (oops). I think I will make that whole bed asparagus so I will need 2-3 more (if I can't move the other one).
• Weeded front of new patio door -- lots of stuff from before popping up, so pulled roots too.
• FOUND A POTATO from last year! Yay, seed potato!

4/18/2023

• New humming bird feeder and bluebird feeder.  ALL feeders up and filled, or will be once I wash the bluebird ones.  I discovered I put the yellow bird feeder back together wrong so I will fix that when it gets half empty again.
• Got a bag-garden bed for the surprise potato

4/20/2023

• BLUEBIRD SPOTTED LAST NIGHT!
• Planted potatoes in the new bed-planter.  
• Jim is doing the platform on the side door of the patio
• LOVING the new rain barrel!!
• Lots of bees loving the flowers on the apple tree.

Next up ... MAY!!

aaaaand....DONE!

Finally!

I had been trying to wait until we had our first fire so we could use the ashes in the Three Sister's Garden, however that was just taking way too long.  So this morning while Jim watered the rest, I raked the dirt where the squirrels and robins had been all in it, and then planted eight kernels of Peaches and Cream sweet corn.  I put a stake near each one so we'd know where they were.  With that everything is done.

As of now, then, everything that was on that list is planted except the moonflowers and calendula.  It looks thusly:

To the very far left are the strawberries, which I have fertilizer and dirt for.  They've already started to produce...over achievers!  To their right I have sweet banana peppers (Jim's request) and green bell peppers, and a whole lot of space.  Not sure what to do with all that, but something will go there.  The middle bed has six remaining of eight pickling cucumbers, and then two zucchini plants.  It very well may also have some space remaining, even though I know how much both of those plants branch out.  On the right side is the tomatoes, where I have two Prudens beefsteaks, two Amish Pastes, and one Black Cherry...because who doesn't want black cherry tomatoes!  I also put the garlic and chives in that one.

That leaves the new bed, which is the Three Sister's bed.  Hopefully, Elsie the Owl will keep the squirrels and birds away from the corn kernels which will hopefully sprout.  The suggestion we got here I just realized I totally did not follow, planting in rows rather than in a circle.  I think I thought each kernal got it's own mound.  Oops.  But, the timing of the things I plan on following so there's that....

Next, I decided to do something with the corn dollies I had made last year and the year before.  I hadn't burned the oldest one yet, so decided they should both go out.  I picked some of the flowers in the yard, and added them, and each one got affixed to a post, one in the Three Sister's garden, and the other in the tomato bed.

I already got a start on this year's with some corn we had on Memorial Day.  Even if we don't get any ears in the ones we planted, maybe we will at least get some stalks so we can make them from our own yard.

And, just for fun, here's a picture of the Butterfly Garden:

The milkweed from last year seems to have taken off (and indeed, can be found in various other places in my yard).  I also planted the tangerine sage there, but all the pretty red blooms fell off, so hopefully more will come back.  I also put the dill there, since some caterpillars like that.

Most of the annual herbs went into containers on the patio, but I decided to try the perennials in the yard.  In the flower garden around the deck I put the chamomile, lavender, and one variety of sage., and then in the matching Garden-To-Be-Named-Later in the other corner, I put the common sage.

I still have more to do, but it's very nice. We have lots of birds at the feeder, and two squirrels (at least).  The birds sing all day and pretty soon the 17-year cicadas will bust out.  It feels very much like being out in the country, even though we are basically in the land of suburban sprawl.  It's actually fairly peaceful, and I can't wait until the deck is done and I can sit there and just observe all the life out there.

Spring Sprang

A while back actually, and I'm woefully behind.

Alzheimer's a terrible, terrible disease.  I know all lingering lengthy diseases are, and most people know that.  Although they'll say "yeah, my mom forgets a lot too."  Or worse, make a joke about how their forgetfulness is early-onset.  Um...no.  No, it's not.  And it isn't funny.  It's more than just forgetfulness.  It's the complete personality transference that takes place from, let's say, a sweet, funny, kind woman to ... well, someone who isn't that.  And who realizes that it's happening, and can't do anything about it.

The latest memory that keeps recirculating is about her father and hummingbird feeders.  She said he would string them along a line from the back of their house out to "that tree."  They have to have multiple feeders because they are "mean little things."  She's not wrong.  They are very territorial.  In February then, I took her to Anderson's and she picked out two more hummingbird feeders.  We put them up this weekend...well, I did.  I showed her a few times where they are and heard the story again and again.  Two are in the flower garden around the deck, and one is hanging in the birch tree.

Planting progresses as we try and time things with the weather.  I bought a grapevine, dill, and parsley from the botany class at school.  We got broccoli and brussel sprouts and onions, and then...well, you know, kinda waited.  Meanwhile life continued.  Then this past weekend "Holy crap, we have to plant that stuff!"

I did try the whole "use water jugs as mini greenhouses" as went around Facebook a while back. While I did get a late start I can now definitively say that it did not work.  Or maybe it did. I'll just keep them together until I don't I guess, just to see if they ever take root.  It could have just been old seeds, I suppose.  I planted broccoli, onions, and tomatoes.  I wrote on the jug, but then rain, snow, and sun have successfully removed the labels so I have no idea what is in what.

We now have the onions in one of the whiskey half-barrels. Dill and parsley are in one pot and going to be transferred to the pollinator garden once we have that earth turned.  Lettuce and spinach seeds are in and hopefully growing under ground because they aren't sprouting yet.  (I planted them a couple of weeks ago).  The strawberries are full of pink blooms and already some little berries are visible.  The apple tree has teeny little apples on it even!  I planted the Brussel sprouts and broccoli yesterday.  This year I got straw (from mom and dad's Thanksgiving yard decorations), and have used that for mulch.  I will add that to the other beds too, and then the rest goes in the compost.

Last Harvest

I always think to myself, "Self, you should blog."  But there's just not much to blog about with the ol' back 40 feet.

(I should really measure that out some day.)

Today, though I did things.  The nights are getting cooler, and we've come perilously close to our first frost, but not quite yet.  Folklore in Ireland and Scotland says that you need to get all the crops in before the first frost; anything left after that belongs to some spirit or another (it seems to vary by region) and good grief you don't want to take it from them!  That way lies bad stuff.

When I got home, then, I got dinner started (turkey meatloaf...yum), and headed outside.  First task was to take down the beans from the poles.  There were some beans that had grown since the last picking, so those all went in a bowl.  Some may be okay for eating...but the rest I think I shall save for seed.  In all likelihood I have more than I need, so if anyone is interested in trading, or just having some bean seeds.  They tasted good and vined with very little assistance.  If you've been following you know of my very "hands off" (read: lazy) approach to gardening, so the fact they were so easy is a definitely plus.  I suppose I should see if I can find what variety they were.  I may still have the seed pouch, but I wouldn't be so confident about that.

Next I hit the sunflowers.  I managed to get three large heads and one medium sized head that are FULL of seeds.  I can't wait to grab those all and roast them for Jim.

Finally, it was time to grab the rest of the brussel sprouts. I pulled all the stalks and cut the leaves off into the compost.  (That's where the bean stalks went too.)  The stalks are sitting on the porch on the table next to the sunflower heads so I can get the sprouts off of them tomorrow, hopefully.  Then the remaining stalks will go into the compost as well.

Now I have a full compost bin, but it is full of greens.  I need Jim to rip up the many cardboard boxes in the garage and put those in there.

I left the tomatoes and bell peppers in.  I want to pull the green tomatoes off and then see what happens.  And, the strawberries have some late berries that will be a nice dessert at some point.  I guess that could have been tonight, but time was up.

To review...my second harvest since this experiment began was...lackluster.  I  did get six pints of zucchini canned, and I have a boatload of strawberries in the freezer to be jam.  But I got nowhere near the tomatoes and bell peppers of last year.  Similarly, while I did well, with rosemary, the remaining herbs were not so great.  I am not entirely sure what I did differently, so I will just chalk it up to the fickleness of Mother Nature.  This does mean the home made Yule baskets may be a bit light in the food department, but I think that's okay.  The point is to give of myself and what I have, and if that's a whole lot of zucchini bread and strawberry jam (not a bad combination, actually), then that's what it is.

I am already thinking ahead to next year, of course.  I certainly want to get with Misty about the grapes, and then talk to Jim about, yes, another bed.  I've learned that with some things you can't wait -- if they bolt or get beyond ripe, then you've wasted that garden space, and gotten no food out of it.

The wheel has turned, and the signs of autumn are everywhere.  I would like to get some straw (I don't know why...I just do) to cover all the beds with a nice blanket (that will also decompose), so they can be ready to go for spring.

Have a great autumn!

Spring around the corner

It doesn't seem like it though.  I just shoveled the driveway for the third time (total of four, Jim did one).

However, my friend Beth posted a picture of her hand lifting dirt out of a bag to be placed into seed pots, and it looked good.  Really, really good.  A few facebook messages later and I was on my way to her house after work in order to pick up her extra.  We talked gardening for a bit, and she gave me some hints and tips.  She saved her own seeds last year, and I think I might give it a try this year.  We'll be exchanging seedlings if they're successful and we have too many, and also the fruits of our labor (literally!).  This is how you do it people.  We only survive if we cooperate!

As I drove home in the snow, I felt better.  I was practically giddy when I got home.  I had dirt and I wasn't afraid to use it!  After shoveling snow and some coffee, I have liberated some clay pots from the deck, and they are now sitting on the dining room table, melting a bit.  Once it gets melted, I plan to dump it outside, and then get started.  There's a corner of the dining room where a TV tray (or two) can be set up and they can sit there.  It's a bit cool, but they can also get a lot of sunshine there.

Despite my hatred of shoveling, I have come to love winter.  Truly proper winter, with snow.  Not the endless bare and dry and bleak, or worse, ice upon ice.  Winter is hues of blue to me: The bright blue of a frigid clear sky; the deep blue of cloudless night with icy stars; the barely-there blue of piles of snow, which deepens as the sun sets, and fades as it rises.

Once inside, the smell of the jambalaya that had been simmering in the crock pot all morning (with my own tomatoes!), but I dutifully went to get the pots from under the table outside.  Some of them were frozen together and some had snow and ice inside that was not going to just come right out. They are currently thawing on the dining room table, as I said.  I am thinking of starting cucumbers, zucchini, and squash.  I will have to see what packets of seeds are still left.

I thought I'd also share pictures of the Back Forty Feet:

Ironically, this was taken I think two days after my declaration of an early Imbolc.  Mother Nature has a wonderful sense of humor.  I had planned to get close-ups, but changed my mind.  There are actually five beds in the shot.  There's a long pallet that's the left-most rectangle, which has strawberries which, last I could see, still had green leaves on them.  Directly next to that (I guess at kind of a downward angle) is a regular square pallet.  Last year it had two tomato plants and some muskmelon, that was gifted to me.  The muskmelon blossomed but no fruit.  The tomatoes did well.  This year it has my lettuce seeds.  Another gardener friend was doubtful that they'd sprout, since they were only covered with dirt, and now snow.  But, I figure they managed to survive growing kind of like that for millennia before we came along, so we'll just wait and see.

Above those (toward the back of the yard) are the three built beds. The farthest one in the back was the first one. Last year it had potatoes and onions, and then lettuce after that.  The lower left one was tomatoes and bell peppers and the one to the right had beans, zucchini, squash, and failed cucumbers.  They grew and vined and blossomed, but no fruit.

In the back corner are the raspberries.  Yes, you can also see the compost bin I still haven't quite figured out, and then the wheelbarrow that "someone" left out.  It has the remains of our topsoil from last year in it.  You can also see our fire pit and altar/bench/table (it serves many purposes).

This be the small herb portion on the deck.  Dead basil, and possibly not-so-dead rosemary and lavender. The two smaller pots are the ones I got to put parsley and dill in for the caterpillers I found.  Next year, we have plans for a butterfly garden, and the parsley and dill will go in there..

Not seen on your tour here:  apple tree that I was told wouldn't produce apples, but happily does, and the totally out of control mint plant.

Now I am eating the aforementioned jambalaya (which could be spicier), the spouse is home, the electric fireplace is on and I'm getting ready for the next week at school.  More snow is being called for