It's starting to look, dare I say it, like a garden!

That top 1/3 of the garden wasn't going to weed itself, so someone had to do it, and that someone was me.  Taking a deep breath, I attacked the overgrown top part of my garden.  No, I didn't use a machete or other device, I went in and pulled each weed, bit by bit.  I lost count of how many times I filled the 5-gallon bucket with weeds and debris and walked over to the scrap pile and back. 

If nothing else, it was a workout!

I couldn't use the rusted old red wagon because it was mistaken for trash by someone new and thrown it out at the beginning of the season.  No wagon, no ways of hauling, so I had to use the bucket I had down in the plot for measuring my Mel's Mix and other things.  It took a few hours of sweating to a SKA playlist but the end result was so worth it!

Things I discovered, the local woodchuck that has been ravaging the area had dug an entrance hole to its den under all that mess of neglect.  (The entrance was under where the bench is in the photo marking it so our resident woodchuck chaser could close it up properly.)  I am now in the process of cleaning the area up from old landscaping cloth and such so I can get my bean teepee going.

The oddest discovery?  The large number of garlic onion things that were given to me years ago have made their way all around the place.  Most of them are dozens of feet from where they ever started and it's interesting how far they managed to spread.  I have dug up all the rogue garlic onion thingies and put them back in the onion box, where they seem to be content again.

I know that when they were given to me I was told they will spread.  I just didn't know they'd run away like that!

I am the most excited about things thriving.  My eggplants and peppers are starting to fruit and flower.  I did have a bit of a fright with some slime mold this week.  It's not really a fungus and it's gross looking.  It's not harmful and just means something is too wet.  It can be removed easily just by breaking it up and letting things dry out a bit. 

It also makes me wonder if I should have redone that box with Mel's mix this year instead of the corn box.  Too late for that now, particularly as I have wiped out most of the local aggie places from the big bags of vermiculite so I'm done mixing for now.  It does help me with some of my notes.  

In my case, I scooped it with my small shovel and dumped it on the side, breaking it up to let it dry out.  I let the pepper and eggplant box dry out for a day or so and then went back to regular watering and maintenance.  

My squash and cucumbers, that I planted from seed, have been starting to pop up, and soon I'll have to set up my trellis to guide the plants up rather than across.  The corn is starting to pop up, which means soon I'll be able to add some beans and squash to that box for a fall harvest three sister garden.  I know I need to add a bit more mix to the corn box, but I wanted to wait until the plants had a bit more to them than just poking up from the ground.  I didn't want them to get lost in a new round of soil.

They are going from "Hi, I'm here" to shooting up like a star in no time.  I'm glad I got a quick picture the day the first sprout appeared because it will be knee-high in no time, maybe even by the fourth of July (the old rule of thumb around here) at the rate it's going!

Last year, I wanted to see what would happen if I laid down cardboard with hay over it.  I learned I didn't need the cardboard as much as I thought.  Most of the new seeds that blow into the garden area from the surrounding forested areas are rooted in the hay and were easily lifted.  I will be picking up some more hay when everything is done to monitor another year's worth of work with that.

This year I'm doing a new experiment.  Instead of using a commercially made raised bed soil mix, I mixed up some Mel's mix and I'm comparing the differences.  One thing I have noticed so far is the water tends to go in deeper and hold better in the Mel's boxes. The less water I have to use is a good thing.  I think part of the reason for the slime is the amount of water I have to use in the pepper and eggplant box. Also, we have been on the funky edge of drought conditions again this year.  We are on the "abnormally dry" side instead of the "moderate drought" side of the line for a week or two now.  To be a responsible human in these conditions as well as to make sure my garden thrives, I need to be aware of things like that.  

So yes, I started late, but my garden continues to surprise me and never really disappoints.

Gardening can be hard work

 This year, I offered up a prayer of apology to the ghods and ghosts of gardens past for whatever I had done to offend them, then set to work.  The first step was clearing out the old tomato box.  I have no idea what may have been living under or nearby, so that meant a good and thorough look.  Fortunately, there were no tell-tale signs of burrows or holes underneath as I moved the soil from the tomato box to the box on the right, that would hold my squash this year. 

Since I was emptying the box, it was time to make some real Mel's Mix rather than some raised bed soil from the big box store.  Mel's Mix is 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 compost (mixed up with a variety of composts), and 1/3 peat moss.  The peat and vermiculite do a nice job in keeping the soil light and airy while retaining moisture while the compost feeds everything.  It's a bit of an outlay; however, it lasts for years, is fully amended soil and I don't need to worry about weeds, wood chips, and such in it.  My only worry is peat isn't necessarily a renewable resource these days, but my mind was put at ease after meeting "Farmer Dave" up in Dracut, MA.  You see, he's doing his best to run a sustainable farm and is part of a movement to move Massachusetts to self-sufficient agriculture.  When I asked him about peat vs coco coir, the alternative to peat, he pointed out a large number of things to consider - including shipping.  He recommended Canadian peat, which is sustainable.  So I bought a big-ass bag from the local Agway store along with agricultural vermiculite and mixed up my composts.  I use lobster/crab compost from Maine, mushroom compost, hummus, cow compost, and what's in my own composter.  Under my box... because of freakin' ghosts of gardeners past... is a layer of cardboard covered with a couple of layers of industrial strength landscape cloth, 1/4" mesh (to keep the burrowing guys out), and a few layers of thick greenhouse plastic.  I built my frame on top and filled it with Mel's Mix.  It was hard work, but well worth it.

Next came the corn and pepper boxes. I wanted to fill the corn box with Mel's this year after last year's weed explosion while I was down with my ankle surgery.  My onion box was lost in the weeds... literally and the squash box still needed to be leveled up.  Again, transfer soil up to the squash box with plans of converting it to Mel's next year.  The corn and squash I start from seed in the ground.  I'm a couple of weeks later than I normally like, but it's in.  When the corn comes up I will add a couple of squash and bean seed to make it a three sister garden for fall harvest.  The peppers and eggplant are doing well, it's just going to be a lot of weed maintenance this year.

It took a couple of more hours to free the onion box and start on the top third where the bean teepee will go and I still haven't ruled out a potato mound yet.  I lay down a salt marsh hay mulch between boxes to keep the weeds down and keep moving forward on the Square Foot Gardener course to get my instructor certification.  This summer is a learning summer and, if I can keep myself focused, I should be able to learn quite a bit.  I did decide that every Sunday I should post a blog and I'll be starting a YouTube channel at some point when I figure out the best way to edit and post things.  I really want to share things I'm observing - like how I observed the Mel's Mix retained moisture better than the commercial raised bed mix.  The little things that make a difference.

All I know is looking at where I was and looking at where I am is pretty amazing.