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Monday, April 28, 2014

Moving right along

I was out of town for a few days last week and got home Friday night. When I checked on the garden Saturday morning, I found lots of things growing.

Carrots
Peas
Beets
The strawberries that I probably didn't plant correctly are growing well.



A couple stalks of asparagus have gotten out of control.

I guess I'll just have to pick one or two stalks at a time, so they don't get away from me like this.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

It's on


The garden - April 19th
I've gotten so many things planted since I last posted. All of the brassicas were planted almost a week ago.

Cabbage
Broccoli
Kale
On Saturday, I planted onions,


potatoes

and beets.

I also mixed up a bunch of soil, filled a 4 x 8 foot raised bed, and planted strawberries. Based on the directions that accompanied the strawberries, it seemed there was no way I could possibly plant them correctly, so we'll see if they grow. Honestly, I felt inept before I even started.




I'm trying not to give the rabbits any opportunities. In addition to fence, the perimeter of both the big garden and this raised bed have been sprayed with Liquid Fence deer and rabbit repellant. So far, so good.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Happy Anniversary and other weekend fun

I realized after posting on Thursday that it had been exactly one year since my first post, so happy late anniversary to me.

It has been a busy four-day weekend. I started by cleaning up the garden a bit.

The garden April 10th
I cut down the old asparagus and found some new shoots under the mulch. I am so looking forward to tasting this!


 I also pulled back some of the mulch on the garlic and found that it is alive and well.


While I was doing this, the dogs were uncovering a nest of baby bunnies in the middle of the garden. I appreciate their willingness to take care of the intruders, but it never gets easier to see. I should apologize to my neighbors, if any of them were out, because I was cussing like a sailor. The good news is, the bunnies were found before I started using the broadfork. That would've been a trauma I'm not sure I could recover from.

I started getting my old 4 x 8 raised bed ready for strawberries. They're supposed to be here this week, along with my onions and potatoes. No pictures because an empty raised bed isn't much to see.

I finally planted my carrots.

Now you see them
Now you don't
The brassicas are about ready to be planted out. They spent time on the patio, getting acclimated.


I know I'm late with them, but we'll see how they do.

Lastly, I had some branches trimmed off a tree in my yard, which is just the beginning of a new project. More on that later.


As I write this, we're getting the rain that we needed so badly. It's been a nice, fairly slow, soaking rain. I'm going to take advantage of a cool, wet Sunday and relax after my three busy days.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Sproing!

I'm finally confident in saying that spring has sprung around here. There are green things in the flower beds:

tulips
daffodils
hyacinths
Even so, I'm a little apprehensive. Like most of the country, we had a very cold winter, but unlike others, we had almost no snow. After the dry winter, we've so far had a dry spring, so anything that survived the cold is now in need of moisture.

I'm optimistic, though. Rain is forecast for this weekend, I have a couple days off work to focus on garden chores, and I have a new tool to play with.


I'm going to have so much dirt in my fingernails after this weekend...

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Welcome to San Quentin

The white trash garden version, that is.


It became obvious this winter that the rabbits had figured out how to get through the "rabbit guard" fence at will. It really wasn't so hard for a creature that jumps. They just leapt high enough to get through the big holes, and that was that.

Since I've got some seedlings that are about ready to go out, I knew I needed to do something to thwart their nightly forays into the garden. While I'd love to re-fence with a higher quality fence, I don't have the time or money this spring. Instead, I improvised. I zip tied chicken wire to the inside of the existing fence, covering all of the big holes with little ones.


It isn't pretty, as you can see, but it ought to help keep those little bastards out.

The garden March 30th