Learned Too Late - Soil Rule #2
Never Leave Soil Exposed to the Drying Sun and Wind. Soil Rule #2 learned today.
If there is an exception to every rule, what would be the exception to Soil Rule #2? Imagine a very humous-rich soil, in a moist environment sheltered from drying wind and scalding sun. Perhaps the jungle land of Hawaii or other rain forest paradise. An old friend on the Big Island tells me that everything grows extremely quickly there. Of course, the rich minerals which come straight from the Earth's magma stew pot would make anything grow.
So, except for that impossibly perfect environment, the rest of us may need to protect our soil.
In just a few supposedly Spring time weeks all the life and elasticity was sucked out of the soil in my garden (research the term soil integrity). I've heard the words "soil integrity" and I have an idea what it means. Take a look at this closeup of the clumps I've been working with. These show the dried up husks of what had been healthy soil.
At least I never said that I was a master gardener - or my integrity would be dried up too. You can see the holes which may have been worm holes, passageways which promote the life of the soil, allowing water and air to flow. The holes may have been formed from decayed roots. What so many beings worked hard to create there, I destroyed quickly, with an ill-fated blow of the shovel.
Back to the "fix" ...
As my husband delivered straw, I placed it on the chopped beds, and thought about this correction being implemented from a project gone bad. (See my last post Won't Break Soil Rule #1 Again.) I wondered if any of you readers had ever shoveled damp soil and immediately covered it in mulch - would the problem have healed itself? Would the soil have retained it's moisture and life (and worms)?
At the end of my last row of hoeing sandstone-hard clumps of soil, I noticed that indeed, there was an area there which had been covered by straw. It happened because of an impending freeze (see post from 4/6/09 Freeze Protection in Place). Big bunches of straw had been plopped near where they were needed for me to work with to protect the plants. Some of it landed on the hacked soil.
I moved the straw and behold, the soil was damp, a worm was showing. When touched by the hoe it softly responded with movement. Ah. So its true. Rule #2 was thereby proved valid.
For the lack of a little extra effort the day of the bed-making - three days in the future were shot by having to reclaim the soil, and STILL work when I was too tired, to spread the straw and protect the garden.
May you (and your plants) always be perfectly and purely hydrated.
Won't Break Soil Rule #1 Again!
What IS Soil Rule #1?
Never Ever Work the Soil When It is Wet or Damp or Clumping or Sticking to the Shovel.
How did I learn that this is an important rule? THE HARD WAY, of course.
We had help in the garden and wanted the paths to be re-defined, so we went ahead and shoveled some of the wonderful soil out from the walking path to make a bit of a raised mound for the beds. Alas, I didn't stop when I saw how the soil kept the shape of the shovel scoop.
I thought perhaps the rain which was coming would wash it into smaller pieces, or soften it. But no.
Through weeks of sitting out in rain and wind and sun (since 3/30), it stayed put, like this:
The shovel is standing in the walking path, soon to be dug. On the left is a path which has been lined with weed barrier cloth and wood mulch. This made so much more work for me, as it all has to be hoed and raked and then covered with straw, hopefully to regain some life and moisture and bring back the worms which no doubt fled to the terra firma beneath.
Today I did some more Triage on my work schedule (as in the 4/18 post). Sadly, I had to choose between continuing planting the potatoes (which NEEDS to be done) along with their companion plants, and the hard work of taming the soil in the rows. After several days of sun and wind, I knew the soil would be dry, even though caked hard.
There's a chance of rain tonight and tomorrow and then it would be too late to do this job. The soil work was important as it is almost time to plant the tomatoes, eggplants and peppers (and their companions) in these rows. Intensely physical exertion, and beneficial breaks all day today and I have but one row left to finish. Below, you can see on the left what the finished row looks like. Don't look at the soil on the right.
Now I have direct experience of the validity of this soil rule.
And I promise myself to follow it from now on.
Actually this year I am hoping to have the garden design somewhat set so I can keep straw mulch on it always and not need to dig it again. That is, after all, the definition of a "no till garden". Something to remember in the fall. No matter how tired from the season and the putting up of the harvest - clean, clear and re-mulch! I believe that also will be a rule.
Laziness or tiredness
May seem to rule the moment
Yet the extra effort of "following the rules"
Brings less work and more joy
To the gardener who is Wise.
(quote from "The Way of the Garden"
as yet unwritten by the author of this journal)
Interplanting Potatoes, Eggplant, Cabbage +
What is Inter-Planting?
This method of gardening is the opposite of Mono-Culture. Remember seeing row after row of the same crop, off into the horizon? Well, that's not all that mono-culture is. Even back here in my garden, when I have a row or a bed which only holds one type of plant it is also considered to be mono-culture - though there is nothing "agri-biz" in my garden.
Why would one want to confuse the gardener by mixing up the plants? My gardening friend says that it also "confuses the bugs." Now, that's worthwhile!
Also, if you have read or heard about Companion Planting, then you know that there are advantages in bringing plants of different types into the same bed. (No obviously not to mate - see the post on Saving Seeds which has not as yet been written for information on "crossing cultivars." Interplanting is way beyond (and inclusive of) mixing cultivars.
Potato Plants in Captivity (February 29, 2009) in the Greenhouse (before aphids & ants)
How did my interest in this come about? In the last Organic Club Meeting, I was asking how to inhibit the Blister Beetles that devoured my potato leaves last year. Besides being told that yes, there is a bird which eats them (the mightily noisy Guinea Hen), there are other ways to dissuade the bugs from an all out smorgasbord across the garden. That is, of course, Interplanting. I wrote about some of this in my previous blog about Interplanting Planning.
Today's garden adventure found the selected plants at the site of the potato patch for planting. Eggplant, Cabbage, Horseradish, Marigold & Nasturtium. Also invited to the party, but unable to attend today (as they are still in seed form and I'm not certain that its warm enough yet) were bush beans, corn and watermelon. All these plants grow well with potatoes or are of some value to the potato plant.
There seem to be no photos of my eggplant seedlings. Yet over 20 were counted today. (What a terrible mother of plants I am, not to have a single photo, and here they are, being planted already!) Oh well.
Nasturtium in the greenhouse, buds ready to flower, awaiting planting in the garden.
There is a very important difference between those two ways of being "companionable." Take the example of the Eggplant. I thought how wonderful that there is a good place for this vegetable. I was mistaken. On deeper reading I found the reason that it is recommended next to the potato is that the Colorado Potato Bug likes eating Eggplant even better than potato leaves! I realized that every Eggplant placed in that patch is being sacrificed! Actually, I have started way too many Eggplants, so the extras might as well be useful. I will try to save them from being devoured, but I understand their purpose here.
Horseradish is said to protect against blister beetles on the potatoes, by planting one at each corner of the patch. This morning I dug up last year's horseradish. My husband made a very strong grated, vinegar'd horseradish for medicinal and culinary uses. I planted a few thin roots into a greenhouse bed to see what would happen, and the biggest roots went out to the garden. I'm glad I'll have a few extras to use as I expand the potato beds around the yard.
Horseradish in the Upper Garden this morning before being dug up.
Technically this is supposed to be done before the leaves come up, or in the Autumn after the leaves have been removed. But I read about that after doing it "my" way, because NOW is when it needed to be moved to do service in the potato patch.
The directions I received for interplanting seemed to be to put a different plant on each side of all the plants. That extensive a "checker boarding" would use up a lot of my supply of plants and most importantly, space. We started this patch using the 12 sheets of newspaper (minimum) with straw on top method, with the intension of planting the potatoes in the straw. I thought it was an ultimately way over the top amount of space - but no, its not going to be near enough.
My first variety of potatoes (with interplants) took up 4 rows of perhaps 12 (its too dark outside to count now). I didn't even finish using all the seed of that variety. There's a lot more seed potatoes in the basement waiting for planting. It seems like I'm going to have to use a lot of upper garden space that I thought we were covering in that same paper/straw method just to get it ready for next year and have a neater garden. No, I think its going to all be potato fields forever (no, that's strawberries).
Cabbages, red and green, much younger than today.
Why so many potatoes? I took care of placing the group order for the Club, and wound up with extras, more than I had ordered. My husband likes potatoes. He makes a wonderful potato soup, and mashed garlic potatoes, and really good herbed roasted potatoes, and more. They are a very nutritious and complete food. They even are an emotional comfort food. And even if we don't need that many potatoes, I guess someone will.
I'd like to have enough left over to save for next year's seed too. Here's hoping ...
If I can't plant them all, I hope someone from the Garden Club will buy the seed from me. We sent away for top quality Organic Certified Seed Potatoes from Wood Prairie Farm in Maine. There are some unique and interesting varieties, including King Henry which is supposed to protect itself and its neighboring potato plants from bugs. So yes, that variety is interplanted with the others.
With four interplanted rows under my belt, I may be able to handle the details and take photos of the process tomorrow. Exciting details will include a dusting of fresh grass clippings, an original method of marking plant spacing and the joys of crawling about in a fully straw filled garden bed.
May all the beds you crawl in and out of, yield loving, happy harvest.
Interplanting Planning & Cold (achoo) Delay Outdoor Planting
Interplanting Instead of Mono-Culture on a Small Scale
My new perspective on planting the potatoes takes planning. Interplanting is an idea new to me, shared at the last Organic Garden Club meeting. To confuse the bugs and make the most of the soil minerals, I'm told to break up the plot from the mono-culture concept (one type of plant in each plot) and plant many different plants which "get along" in the same area. Keeping it mixed up year to year.
This info broke a mental stalemate I was in, uncertain where to plant what, and how to keep to a crop rotation when we do not plant equal amounts of plants in the varying categories to do it "the correct." I'm so fastidiously trying to do something "right". Usually I work hap-hazardly, which sometimes works, and other times, not so well.
My gardening friend said that she was reading a book called Solar Gardening, which gives the ideas of which plants will take the sun now, get harvested before their neighbors need the sun. Also she said that the concepts from Square Feet Gardening which advocates placing many different types of plants in small spaces.
If my description of these books seems rather weak, you are reading clearly. I have not read the books, I heard the idea from my friend, and combining those ideas with the help of companion planting book Carrots Love Tomatoes (which I do have and read and consult quite frequently), this year's garden plan is looking very different.
Of course, its late to be planning, and time to be doing!
Here's some of my beloveds waiting until its warm enough to dig in to the soil. These are tomatoes which I will attempt to plant with carrots (though its late to seed them). And the carrots like to be near parsley which is also ready for planting.
All the plants go out to the sunshine for hardening off
And then get put back in the greenhouse for a safe night's rest
Next day same thing, over and over
They are beginning to tell me that they wish to spread their roots deeper into the soil,
let's go already gardener!
"Achoo" I tell them, and find the energy to take another nap.
I hope you are not too bored, looking at these trays. I'm not showing all the plants which are impatiently waiting to be planted!
Yes there was some planting done since my last post.
To place the onions and leeks at the correct distance, I made up a Plant Measure Stick from the stalk of last year's sunflowers, straight and light weight (so if it rolled onto the plants it wouldn't hurt them). I marked 4, 5 and 6 inch intervals with a marker and used my wonderful Hori Hori knife to make the planting hole.
A soon after planting not-interplanted bed of onions. Some of them are now (one week later) more vertical, some not.
And the new strawberries also were planted.
Finally I did take the strawberry companions out to join their buddies in the soil. Chinese Greens and spinach do well with strawberries (so says the companion planting book). Also the borage herb was moved to their place beside the strawberries.
As evidence of how tired I felt, I did not even think to take a photo, though the camera was in my fanny pack. I'm almost done with these cold symptoms and the next few days will be good for planting. I have my list of what to mix in with the potatoes. The plot is ready, with string marked rows and deep straw. Just have to figure out the spacing between the plants and how many companions I have to mix in. Its a very exciting time for me.
Dear Readers, another reason for the long space of time between posts is that I've been trying to figure out WordPress as this blog software, RapidWeaver, does not integrate very well with Blotanical, a gardeners' blog central which I enjoy. But instead of studying tonight, I prefer to share, even if all the bells and whistles do not yet function.
May all energy, focus and timing flow through you in synch with Nature's rhythms.
Testing Testing
As you might imagine, this post is to test if the post is posting.
To thank you for your visit ...
Here's a basket of Spring Beauties
Salsify seed head opens
May you pass all tests in Joyful Repose!
Triage Garden Tasks - Plants to Save Come First!
The list of jobs is ever growing
from one thing to another I've been tossed
If there were a master gardener here
Tasks would be wisely bossed.
Perhaps the last freeze is past,
though not the final frost
Any plant outside now
might become a harvest lost.
Seedlings beneath the lights
Plants too big for seedling tray,
Some can live there for a while
Others suffer from delay.
I turn my head and plainly see
Too many jobs to do
Even when planted outside
The work is never through.
There is a need to choose a path
A time to make decision
Decide the fate of each dear plant
A choice, I pray, by highest vision.
As I make my "Sophie's Choice"*
between this life and that
I hear the term in Hot Lip's* voice
as if I wear a doctor's hat.
A term I learned decades ago
from Hawkeye* and the crew
Triage - to choose who lives or dies
by how well the cure might do.
The plant that cries the loudest
Finest flavor on my tongue,
The plant most rare and precious
I choose to help that one.
Evening comes, the sky is darkening
I'm still outside with my hoe
working the soil to welcome
All the beautiful plants I know.
I'll take you each in turn
Before it is too late
Triage is only a place in line
To grow in love for all, is fate.
by Rachel Claire
* respectful credit to whomever owns the intellectual property mentioned
Dear Readers,
This blog has been having some technical issues between an upgrade of the blogging software (RapidWeaver 4.2.2) and a new feedburner link and trying to function with Blotanical.
Hopefully this link will feed both into feedburner, blotanical and have comments available through JS-Kit.
If not, I'll try again. If you were able to see this post, please let me know below on the comments.
May all your decisions bring Peace and Joy for all!
Borage Flowers Flash Pink, Purple & Periwinkle
Are you a Natural Photographer or Do You Like Using Flash?
Digital photos with flash often change the color from the way that I see the flower. These Borage flowers are photographed on a bed of lettuce, without flash. Usually I prefer this setting as the colors and shadings tend to seem more realistic. Yet the color of the Borage is not true, though I like the realism of the color of the lettuce. Yes, that is oregano on the left.
Ah, this is closer to the color of the borage. In close up mode, there is so much more detail in the delicate colors than I can usually see directly through the eyes. This photo was taken WITH the flash and is much more true to life than the photo above. However the bright shine in the lettuce disturbs my eye.
Periwinkle - a wonderful color!
Why would I provide photos of an herb flower on Bloggers' Bloom day*, on a bed of lettuce?
These Borage flowers are the first this year from the greenhouse plants. I picked them to join the lettuce for dinner before I remembered that this was the night to prepare a blossom post. Yes, there are a couple of late tulips and almost open lilacs in the yard. A few of the violets still have imperfect flowers, but no other radiant bloom beauties were available. So I offer you these herbal delights!
Please enjoy the flowers, add some salad dressing and join me in a fresh picked salad, won't you?
Well, I did intend to post on 4/15/09 - a Bloggers Bloom day. However, I had upgraded my blogging software, RapidWeaver, to the new version which is supposed to keep many of the little (and big) glitches in the blog, such as disappearing comments, crazed Blotanical pick behavior etc.. (Too bad I can't add bad spelling and grammar to RapidWeaver's faults.)
Little did I realize that this upgrade was far from simple and meant that I'd have to almost rework the whole blog, adding back categories on posts, and sometimes finding posts from the past, redoing many of the settings and generally have to work at it.
As you might imagine at this time of planting, there are much more seemingly important things to do. But where am I now, out in the garden preparing the much needed beds before the next rain? No, I'm fixing my blog as I really enjoy sharing with you. Many thanks for reading, commenting and offering suggestions, dear readers.
And I did have a chance to add photos of borage flowers still on the greenhouse plant which opened later yesterday than I had intended to publish.
Today's bonus photo: First strawberry blossoms on last year's plants which overwintered in the garden bed.
May all your upgrades be within your garden when the weather is fair.
Alfalfa Experiment #1 is Dug Out
Alfalfa Experiment Number One was initially an attempt to grow new alfalfa seeds for making sprouts. The seed source was 15 year (more or less) old seed which was not working out well in the kitchen sprout department. Much of it germinated, but would rot before too long. It smelled rotten, you don't need to know more about that.
The gardener's experimenting spirit, which needs to be reigned in this year, thought that the plants might grow well in an alternate environment, like soil. There were a few unplanted patches in the garden which were immediately sprinkled with alfalfa seed. The plants came up and grew out quickly. So far I don't recall any flowers, much less seeds. (If they had flowers and seed heads, then I'd have to figure out how to harvest and process them.)
Since then, a couple of local gardeners have told me they had difficulty getting alfalfa to start up on their land. It's been going great guns here. This is a little close up of dense and happy alfalfa in my garden.
The gardener really does need to do more research BEFORE spontaneous action, and perhaps, someday she'll learn how, or at least might stop to think first. (Do you really believe that? Not sure that I do.)
Here's what the gardener knows now about alfalfa that she didn't last year:
1. Alfalfa spreads, real slowly, but very fully. Subtly it sneaks over the lines and looks as if its always been there, so bright and healthy that it makes one feel good just to gaze into its greenness.
2. Blister Beetles LOVE alfalfa. What's a blister beetle? You don't know? See, there's often a blessing which is yours of which you are not yet aware. This is excellent example for those in the "Count Your Blessings" School of Gardening. The Gardener didn't know about them until deep into the first Summer of Ozark gardening. A garden friend was visiting. He was new to the Organic Philosophy and had always used something like "Seven", so he'd never noticed the critter before. I innocently asked him what that new bug was. He didn't know, so I let it be. I saw it first on the potato leaves. Then there were more bugs. Many more, and then hardly any potato leaves. The bugs marched on to the tomatoes, the chard, and at last, to the place I couldn't get them out of, you guessed it - the Alfalfa.
There is no native Earth animal which preys upon the Blister Beetle (aka Potato Bug) and nothing likes to eat it either. Sadly, they are very poisonous to horses, which otherwise find alfalfa hay very tasty and good for them. I don't know how one can make alfalfa hay which does NOT contain the little critters. Well, not in my pasture land turned weed fields and garden. (This paragraph contains a clue to what may become Alfalfa Experiment #2. Stay tuned to find out.)
3. Yes, alfalfa roots do grow very deep. That was sort of clear to me before. Its part of what makes alfalfa a good crop to break through clay soil and bring deep minerals to the surface. Well, the minerals come into the plant, the plant goes into the compost or back into the top soil as green manure.
So how does one get rid of the alfalfa? Dig deeply. Oh. More shovel exercise.
Why would one want to get rid of the alfalfa? Oh, perhaps the land is needed. Perhaps it has grown beyond the space allotted to it, and the onions really do have to get planted.
This Spring the alfalfa is happily expanding beyond where it was planted. Below is the area which will be needed for the walkway beside this year's onion bed. It would be very hard to do a good shovel job removing it after the onions have been planted there, so its one more job that must be done while the onions languish in their temporary bed in the greenhouse. They could have been in the soil weeks ago, but that the gardener ... (Pick any excuse you like ... was writing blogs instead of gardening? Who knows?)
Dig those roots. Dig that soil.
Now that's a blessing I've been counting, with gratitude every single day.
(Most Ozark soil is just rocks and pebbles, this however, is a miracle.)
I would have liked, for soil development purposes, to leave the roots in the soil, allowing them to dispense their good nitrogen and feed the worms, etc.. However, I am aware that just cutting it at the stem would encourage it to grow back. Yes, it can be harvested like hay for many uses. But in this small space, I don't want to do that.
Now, what to do with all these uprooted plants? I do have an idea which might be Experiment #2. Perhaps you can tell me something helpful about this idea before I go to all the effort.
I gave away a huge bucketful of the roots and tops to our helper (who hadn't been able to start his own) to transplant in his garden. If that works for him, it will give me a hint if idea #2 will work.
Imagine that strong tap root placed into a gravel-like soil that has weed quality cactus growing on it. Would the alfalfa spread,taking over the light source and overpowering the root room of the cactus and kill it? Wouldn't that be cool?
Imagine this area of cactus and no garden plants attracting all the neighborhood blister beetles away from the garden! Wouldn't that be super cool?
Do you think it might work? Digging little holes to plant these roots in would be a big job. Oh, I still have some of those seeds left. Perhaps I could just plant the stuff out there instead of trying to transplant it! What a great idea!
If I hadn't been sharing this subject with you, that idea might not have come. Thanks so much for listening and sharing that idea with me, bending space and time to bring it to my consciousness. This insight shows me that there is a reason for writing and posting this garden journal. I have been wondering.
There are two other plots of alfalfa going strong inside the garden fence. The one by the onion patch is all removed. One of the others looks like this. It will be good fodder for the compost, or perhaps food for the chickens which the gardener might bring in to eat up the grasshoppers. But that's another story.
Thanks for visiting and sharing.
May all your experiments be Joyful!
Ladybug Larvae LOVE (eating) Aphids
Some Ladybugs were shooed out the door, some into the vacuum. Then a neighbor reminded me that these indoor pests EAT APHIDS. The rest of them were quickly swept right downstairs to the greenhouse, and deposited onto the potato leaves.
.
The Beginning: Healthy happy potato leaves with happy healthy aphids.
Asian Ladybug Beetles on patrol on the potato leaves.
Note aphid farmer (ant) on leaf in lower center part of photo.
Many more ants began to take up residence. I used dry corn grits scattered on the ground and leaves. The idea is that the ants feed on the dry grits and somehow as the grits expand in their body moisture, it explodes them. Hopefully (for sadistic gardeners) the ants take the grits back to their Queen and the grits kill her too. End of ant colony and their tended crop of aphids (in theory).
Undiagnosed disease or other destruction of potato leaf, obviously pretty worn out by continued aphid predation.
Enter intrepid, wonderful hungry Ladybug beetle larvae. They have nothing to do but eat and grow bigger. Unlike their adult version, they can't go flying off. So they walk and eat and eat and I hardly see any aphids on the leaves anymore. Well, there are plenty more on other greenhouse plants.
So gently and tenderly, I've been moving a few to the Carrot leaves nearby which are aphid-inundated. Hopefully they'll find the Salsify next to that which is like an aphid magnet. I'd like to find a way to get the larvae to some of the other plants which are in pots in the greenhouse that need the larvaes' help - but I am cautious about trapping the guys inside a plastic pot. They may not be able to move to get more food elsewhere when they need it.
Kudos to you. Ladybug larvae, you are doing a wonderful job!
Some of the plants where the infestation started were looking pretty bleak.
I don't see any aphids or LadyBug Larvae in the outside garden yet. I'm sure that its too cold and too early in the season for them. I'm just so grateful that when the pests awoke early for the outside world, in the greenhouse warmth, their natural predators also awoke to enjoy the aphid feast.
This proves that it is true, in the natural system of gardening,
if you provide the feast, the guests will come.
So if we wait long enough with a pest in our midst,
a predatory species will be drawn to the garden buffet.
I wish that it always worked as well as in this instance. Remember, I stacked the deck with extra ladybugs. And it wasn't them, but their offspring who are doing the work. Therefore, this year I stocked up on wholesome "organic" type bug remedies, sprays and powders. We'll see how well I'm able to apply them as the season progresses.
May the beneficial insects come to your garden,
even if just for hors d'oeuvres - so you won't have to be overrun by pests
to be helped by Nature's Balancing Mysteries.
Freeze Protection in Place
Freeze Preparation & Protection
Instead of being late in planting, the gardener has fewer plants to protect in preparation for night time temperatures expected in the teens!
To ensure at least a few lilac flowers, here's a mini-pre-harvest of Spring flowers.
These blueberry leaf buds are at the top of the 2 year plant, so nothing but love can be applied to bring it through the freeze.
These garlic, planted in Fall '08 have lived unprotected all Winter. They may be just fine as is.
Lovely strawberry plants who have pushed their way up in the previous weeks' heat, will be covered over with a new bedding of straw.
My first over-wintering of Walking Onion, aka Egyptian Onion so I'm not certain what to do with it. Final answer? I placed some straw over the youngsters, separate from the main body, and let the others respond as they will. The green growth, as far as I know, is only since this Spring.
Last Spring, this garlic was planted as protection with the Tomatoes. It might be ready to harvest soon. Or I might just experiment with allowing it to produce a little colony, or whatever it will if left to grow.
Spring's first Asparagus shoot. Cute little guy. I didn't even cover him up as he looked so strong.
Black Currant (resistant to White Pine Blister Rust) has new leaves her first Spring in this garden, so she does get special treatment before the freeze.
There are lovely buds all the way up her branches.
Gently pile on the straw. Under these piles are 3 bush cherries, 2 white currants and 3 black currant plants. The wind was blowing so fiercely, that no other straw would stay in place. The chinese cabbage and bok choy planted in the garden soil will have to fend for themselves.
How do tulips take a freeze? I don't know, so in they go, to make a lovely little bouquet with the last hyacinths.
And here's today's photographic treat, a prayerful, about to open Salsify flower.
And for all hearts about to open, May we all Grow Joyfully.
(And stay warm through the night.)
Choose the Tool to Dig a Flowerbed
The mission is to transform the weedy patch next to the front stairs into a flower bed and to move the long entrenched hostas from their path to the new bed and beyond. Tools of potential value are brought to the site and are displayed below. The bucket is for the weeds to be transported to the compost. The pointed hoe is excellent for digging out a specific plant. Hori Hori knife, constant garden companion (note the belt) does everything, in a one-pointed way. It leans against the shovel, as everyone knows, the usual digging tool. Next comes the strawberry hoe which sports two widths of hoe blade and is wielded like an axe. I love working with this tool. Last is the conventional hoe, good for moving plants which are not deeply rooted in fairly loose soil.
What else is on hand? The best fitting gloves for these hands, a small size coated palm and finger cotton glove (Boss's Flexi grip, in both summer and winter weights). There's a good grip without blistering the flesh and a solid barrier between my skin and the bugs I squish. Squeamish are you, upset at reading about squashed bugs? Do you garden?
Which tool will prove to be the one for the job? Or will several be needed? They are all at the job site now, so lets see how it goes.
The job site is between the stairs and the down spout. When we first moved here, almost two years ago I dug this area free of weeds. It was surrounded by a rough rock edging and had decent soil in it. I was about to plant herbs there, but the renovation team needed to reside the house, porch, well, everything you see in the photo. (Plus there hadn't been any gutters or down spouts then.) At last the final touch has been laid around the house in the mulch you see beside the house foundation. Beneath that mulch is a weed barrier cloth. Beneath the cloth is hardware cloth, anchored to the foundation to deter animals from seeking shelter. Yes, we really live out in the country, the back woods.
If you look closely, you can see the hostas coming up in the foreground, just in front of and to the right side of the steps.
And the winner of this job is the shovel. A whole section was loosened at one time and fingers riffled through to get the grass and other undesired plants out. Here's a bit of the soil showing. Yes, there are white pines above us, giving the pine straw you see. I use it as mulch on the blueberries.
After the beds were cleared of weeds and the amendments sprinkled on top of the soil I decided to walk back to the tool shed to get another helper to mix the amendments in. As it is a relatively small space I didn't need a full size rake, so this little tined cultivator was perfect for the job. The little hostas you see are left from previous landscaping. They will be dug up and redistributed. Stay tuned for that exciting story.
The shovel also proved to be the best help in digging up this hosta clump. Hori Hori knife comes in handy to thwack the lump to remove dirt from the roots. Some dirt has been removed here, but the rest of the job will come the next day. The clump spent the night wrapped in wet newspaper in the greenhouse. Unravelling roots to separate the plants will be a puzzle to work on while its raining later, hopefully today.
On with the job... In the yard, planted probably 30 years ago are overcrowded areas of summer blooming tiger lilly, spring blooming irises and daffodils. The orange lilies are one of my favorites. There's a wonderful picture of them on the top of Heather's blog, Idaho Small Goat Garden. Both the flowers and roots are edible to humans. We know for sure that they are tasty to deer as the whole flower head gets chomped away and no more flower forming parts are left by the deer to continue brightening up the summer.
Hoping to save some blooms for us, some of each of these bulb-based plants are transplanted into this little bed.
Another tool was used in anticipation of rain storms which have not yet come. As the crew isn't finished with this water diversion project, I need to protect the flower bed from the downspout outflow. The rocks were set in to slant the flow away from the bed and the mini-trench was dug using the smaller blade of the strawberry hoe, followed by smoothing with the larger blade. In the past I have found that water can be trained using a shallow trench like this. The flow may follow the trench out past the flower bed and stairs and then it will resume its normal course downhill which in this case is to the left, down toward the greenhouse and garden.
You may note that there are different plants now, not weeds in the bed. In a rather unimaginative arrangements, minus the hostas which will fill the spaces between the other bulb plants, from the rear, are tiger lilies, iris, tulip, hyacinth (the pink), lilies of the valley (my favorite) and varieties of daffodil. Other flowers will be added when the weather warms.
All the tools, including the ones that didn't get to be used on this job, were returned to the shed. The weeds were taken to the compost (first to dry out, then to be mixed in). The soil in the bed will be smoothed out and finished nicely (I hope) and mulched after the hosta addition. Then I can return to planting the onion, strawberries and cabbages that are waiting in the greenhouse.
Just for fun, here's a pretty picture for you, of lettuce in the greenhouse, with late afternoon sun backlight.
Thank you for visiting. May you and your plants all Grow Joyfully!
