Rain Rain Go Away

Here in New England, the rain is rolling in on a regular basis.  Three inches in one day last week - which almost drowned my lettuce and carrots in the "uptown" garden.  This past Sunday, it was two inches according to the rain gauge in the plot next to mine.

Not only that, it came with tornado warnings.

Yep, tornado warnings in Massachusetts.  Last year we couldn't buy a raindrop, this year we can't seem to buy a drop of sunshine.  *sigh*

When the sun does peek out from the haze of the Canadian wildfires, it's in the air that is hot and humid and makes you feel like you're wrapped in a wet wool blanket.

Of course, most of the plants are loving it, particularly the weeds.  I really hate weeds and yet, they are so happy to be watered on a regular basis, they pop up above ground to party and I have to yank 'em and tank 'em.  In fact, most of the work in the garden these days seems to be keeping the weeds under control.

The tomatoes are loving it too.  They are loving this weather and are growing tall and strong.  I can see lots of fruit appearing on the stems as well.  This is kind of exciting as I see myself being able to make a lovely batch of tomato sauce to can for the months when, as Guy Clark once pointed out, I can forget about the diggin' and the sweatin' every time I go and pick me one.

Of course, there are some Sungolds in there with the Romas and the various Heirloom varieties.  I'll try to save some of the seeds to start in the winter as that's a goal for this year: learn how to save seeds from year to year of varieties I like.  My peppers... well, they're trying.  They seem to be stuck and I don't know how to help them.  

The squash!  Oh my goodness the squash is so happy right now.

It is hard to think that these are the little seeds I had to restart after something ate the originals and they're all like, "Yo! We're gonna be pumpkins and other things because... SQUASH!"

They totally have an attitude and it makes me smile.

I have some poles and twine to guide them up to the trellis netting and it is always fascinating to see those runners reaching out and up to let me know that they are ready to head on up high.  

The other plants with attitude right now are my beans.  They are stretching and reaching and racing up the poles.  The poles are six feet long and with the way they are racing up, I'm wondering if they will reach past that point.  If so, what do I do then?

The sugar snap peas are ready for picking, so I'll pick those and plant some more beans in their place.  When I do that, it will be fun to watch the whole teepee fill in, which will make a great place for a little one to hide.

Last week that whole box was weeded and all the little bits of rogue herbs, another legacy of the ghosts of gardeners past, were under control.  After Sunday's rain, there was a carpet of them throughout the whole box.  An hour later, they were gone, but I have a feeling that it will be back after today's rain blew through.

There is an old belief to plant rosemary for remembrance by the garden gate.  Not me.  I have sage by my gate, hoping it will bring me wisdom.

This plant keeps surprising and delighting me.  It was a rescue from a supermarket years ago that I had hoped would make it through that season.  Each year it comes back stronger and fuller than the year before.  I trim it often, hang the leaves to dry, and then grind them up.  It is one of my favorite things to give to people in the depths of winter when it feels like everything is cold and distant.  Then there's a little jar of fragrant summer goodness to remind us all that it won't be long until spring will come along to warm our spirits and hearts. For now, it greets my comings and goings and whispers messages of encouragement.

Here's hoping for some summer days that are dry, temperate, and sunny.

Sexy Dirt Update

Last spring, when I started trying to amend the soil, I was so upset at how much I did when it looked like I did so little.  As I shared my woes with a local farmer about how it looked like dirt, she replied, "Yeah, but I bet it's sexy dirt."

That made me smile.  Little by little I kept adding to my uptown garden and, for the first time trying my hand at flowers, it's looking OK.  I know the bits of flower garden wouldn't exist at all if I hadn't done the digging, amending, and refilling before topping it all off with new topsoil.  

The snapdragons look lovely and the lilies and other bulbs (with the exception of the dahlias that I caught the chipmunks snacking on) are starting to pop up. The miniature roses from Trader Joe's have been loving the rain and spreading upwards.  Again, if I can keep the critters from eating my rose blossoms, they will be a colorful display of love. 

Let's just say, I'm armed with siracha sauce if I see any buds soon.

Of course, anyone who has heard about the weather in New England recently, you know we've had some unprecedented amounts of rain.  Last week we had three inches of rain in one day.  The next day we got another inch or so.  Then, after a number of humid but rainless days, we had another couple of inches.  

The upside?  I haven't had to water much and the plants are loving it big time.

The downside? Well, outside of the huge amounts of damage from things like flooding and roads being washed out in New Hampshire and Vermont, it's just wet out there.

My poor lettuce are living in mud right now and every time there is even the threat of rain, I move them off the stairs and under the overhang to keep them from drowning in their pots.

Along with the rain, the humidity makes it deceptively hot.

One day in my downtown garden, I brought my big water bottle that holds a liter of water. The intention was to do "easy" work knowing it was hot out.  I planted all my root veggies (parsnips, three or four types of carrots, a couple of types of beets) in the former three-sister box.  I tied up my cukes to keep them from running along the ground, staked some tomatoes as they're going gangbusters, and spread DE on the sage, peppers, and eggplants... not a lot, but I felt myself go sideways.  

 In spite of drinking the whole thing in the 30-40 minutes I was there, the sun and heat got to me.  Now when I get whumped up the head by a cosmic clue by four, I notice.  Ignoring everything else I wanted to do, I headed back home.  I made it to the shade and called my husband for a ride home.  Yes, it was only a quarter of a mile walk; however, I knew I wouldn't make it.  He was running errands and almost home, so he got me back to the house and into some AC. I ate some crackers, drank a lot more water, and got my legs back.  After a shower, I felt a million times better but was careful for the next couple of days.

I am excited that I should have some peas this week as I noticed the flowers have been stretching into pods.  The beans are really starting to come into their own and climb up the poles.  I don't know how much taller the peas will get, it's late in the season for them, so I may be pulling them soon for another round of beans before I start a new round of peas for the fall.

Something I'm not excited about?  After a couple more days of rain, I know there are weeds waiting for me.  *sigh* While the battle never ends, at least I have some things to be excited about now. 

The war has over, and the chipmunks have won. 

I have started cleaning out the corner where all the junk has accumulated over the years and will consider what goes in there when I'm done.  Another box? A small greenhouse?  Who knows.  I do know one of my plot neighbors complimented me the other day saying it looked like I'm an engineer because everything looks so organized.  I thanked him, but the truth is, I look at his plot with great envy because he looks like a gardener.

In spite of the forks, Irish Spring, pinwheels, etc.  The chipmunks at 18 out of 20 corn seedlings.  So I waved the white flag and ceded growing corn this year.  Time to rethink that box, perhaps root veggies like radishes, carrots, and other yummy root veggies.

Tee Turtle ❤️

To be safe, I will make a cover out of chicken wire to go across the top of the box until things are growing strong.

Recently I discovered my favorite place to buy t-shirts, Tee Turtle, now has a "cottage core" line. Now I don't get any type of affiliate stuff from them, but I will always take a moment to tell people about how wonderful their customer service can be and the quality of their product.  ❤️❤️❤️ I own lots of their shirts, pins, and games so when I saw their new design my eyes lit up.  It is lovely.  It will be in my cart and winging its way to me if I hit my goal in Camp NaNoWrimo this July.

Back to plants.  

I spend a lot of time weeding little bits that grow up in my bean teepee box, but I am excited that the peas are climbing up the poles.  I noticed little white flowers on them and did a happy dance.  Hopefully, I will have "sugar peas" for my little nephew and, once the beans start climbing, I will get a little mat to put down in the middle of the teepee so he can hide in there when I'm working.

When everything's done, I'll plant a fall peas and beans crop to start the climb all over again because ... gardens!

The onion box is so self-sufficient, I sometimes think it resents my interference when I jump into weed and guide things.  I will say the Egyptian walking onions I thought were doomed last year have come back with force.  Between those, the garlic onion thingies, and the chives, that box will just be what it is until it's OK with me going in so I can muck around some more.  One thing on the agenda this week, if we don't end up with more buckets of rain, will be mixing up some soil to top off a few boxes.  That includes my curmudgeonly onion box.

 My tomato plants are thriving, which makes me so happy.  There are some Sungold cherry tomatoes, some Roma sauce tomatoes, and some heirloom tomatoes too.  Someone once asked me the difference between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes.  

I said that determinate (think fixed height) will grow and then everything ripens at once screaming, "Tomatoes baby... come and get your tomatoes before they're gone." 

Indeterminate will grow all season and be, "Oh, you want a tomato?  Here, have a tomato. If you want another, come on by and we'll see what we can do for you."

Me, I tend to think sauce vs sandwich tomatoes.  The determinates all show up at the same time as a convenience for people who make tomato sauce and can them.  The indeterminates just keep popping out tomatoes all season for everyone's enjoyment.

My peppers are in an odd state.  Something (I'm looking at you chipmunk) ate the bottom tiers of leaves on my peppers.  They kind of look like lollipop sticks right now.  The ones that were chewed off at the bottom are starting to produce peppers.  That's always fun.  

My squash... oh my poor squash.  My cucumbers are now coming up and I'll put in some straight neck yellow and winter squashes after starting the seeds at home recently.  I'm not sure if the seeds were a bit sketchy or they got eaten by critters or both.  I just know I have enough to put in the box now safely.  I'll run some bits of strings down from the trellis to the plants for them to do some climbing.

It's not a lot this year, but it is happy and happy is good.

Dear Chipmunk(s), Fork You

 Like most gardeners, I get excited about things some people think are stupid.  If you're a gardener, you understand that these things aren't stupid.  If you're not, you look at people you know who are gardeners and say, "That's kind of stupid."

So, when the chipmunks dug up my corn and I decided to start the fourth batch at my house because chipmunks don't want to eat the stalks, just the dried kernel that is ever so tasty to them, I was excited.  On Sunday I planted them in a seeding medium and turned on the heat map designed for seeds.  On Monday I had corn sprouts.  By Tuesday, I could turn off the mat and take the dome off as they were pretty solid.  Wednesday they were out on the deck and Thursday afternoon, I put them in the garden.

To say this had me squeeing hard enough to make an anime fangirl look like a piker would be an understatement. There they were, standing tall in my three-sister box embracing the sun and soil with relief. If they could talk, I'm sure they would have sighed with delight and said, "We're home."

Yeah, I get it if you think it's stupid.  For me, it was truly exciting.

Friday morning, I stopped off at the garden to drop off some stuff for the composting bin and noticed one seedling had been attacked but the rest were fine.  OK, maybe the chipmunk tried one and was... yeah... no thanks.  There were people down there watering and weeding and tending to their plots, so I happily went off to do my food shopping and picked up a couple of boxes of compostable forks because my dahlias were under attack again.  Seems those furry rat bastards with the good PR firm really like to dig up Dahlia tubers and snack on them.  Someone suggested plastic forks make a good protective fence, so I picked some up at the store.

Because I headed downtown first, I was shocked to see almost all the corn dug up - but not eaten.  The roots were still there and strong.  New plan of attack.  I decided to replant the corn and then plant two boxes of plastic forks as their companion planting for the box.  I then walked over to the local dollar store and bought two more packs of forks, these ones are clear and plastic, to put around my dahlia and lily bulbs for protection.  I guess I'll know if that technique worked or not in the morning.

Today was a small work day for me.  I replaced the manky old trellis netting with fresh netting, pulled a few weeds, and planted biodegradable plant-based plastic substitute forks with my corn.

I found there is a three-foot-long garter snake in the garden.  I usually only see the one I call tiny snek because he's about a foot long and, aside from startling me every so often, is cute.  I'm hoping the big one decides the chipmunk would be a tasty meal and take care of the problem.  We'll see.  Someone suggested I use a white vinegar/salt solution to take care of my mint problem along the non-growing sides of things.  I'm seriously considering it.  So far I've learned that if I have it in a spray bottle that can do a targeted stream vs a misting spray, it could just get the ones along the fences and open spaces where I don't have beds.  I haven't decided yet or not, but if I pull one more freaking mint plant... well, let's just say, I'm seriously considering things.

It's beginning to look a lot like a garden

So... what happens when you plant corn?   

Not a trick question, because it happened for the third time this season.  The answer is the chipmunks eat it.

They don't like the plant so much as the corn seed it is growing from.  The rat bastards would dig up my corn when it would get to this size and eat it all up so that my three sisters box remains empty currently.  Trying to find some already sprouted at the local farm stands has been useless.

So I tried again in a little bit of seed starter in the house.  It's growing well and will probably be down in the box next week sometime.  In the meantime, I am researching ways to keep the rat bastards away from my plantings because... I hate chipmunks.

Quick recap on my hatred - several years ago, I had a 50lb bag of soil on my right shoulder and I entered the garden, stepped into a hole with my left foot and did a barrel roll through my deer fencing. I sat up with the bag of soil on my shoulder and a right ankle that was swearing at me.  The docs told me that if I did that again, I would need surgery to repair the ankle.  A couple of years later, I had a fight with a tree root and ended up in a non-weight bearing cast for 12 weeks after surgery.

I really hate those furry rat bastards.

But back to the present day. The downtown garden keeps rolling along.  I have been planting away.  The bean teepee is up, although it's because I planted a bunch of sugar snap peas.  I also put up some more bamboo poles to plant some blue lake green beans. 

Soon it will grow high enough to be a place for my niecey-niece and little nephew to hide in.  As much as I hate chipmunks, I love Catbug and if sugar peas are OK with Catbug, they're more than OK with me.  Even more important, my little nephew is now excited about sugar peas because of Catbug so, yeah SUGAR PEAS!

I also needed to start adding things like tomato cages and figured it was time to get my tools up off the ground and found a cheap little stand for them. Of course weeding never ends.

It never ends.  If you ever want to be a jerk, plant some mint in the ground and let it spread.  Those who come after you will first be, "Oh, that smells nice when I mow the lawn..." until the mint takes everything over and they're like, "Curse you for planting mint you son of a bitch."  As they say, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

I did find another ant colony, so that meant a new batch of organic ant killer.

Let me be clear about ants.  Yes, some ants in a garden are good.  They eat some pretty nasty stuff not to mention provide tasty food for good insects, etc.  There are two problems.  The first is huge colonies of ants because they are carnivorous and they will eat anything/everything, including the good bugs.  The second is red ants because they are just pure spite sent here from hell.  So I mix up a solution of 1 cup boiling water, 1/4 cup sugar, and a tablespoon of 20 mule team Borax.  I then shove cotton balls in the jar to soak up all that dissolved sugary Borax goodness, which they take back to the nest.  A couple of days later, no more ant colonies.

If only I could get rid of the chipmunks so easily.

Uptown

So working the uptown garden off my deck was tough.  Lack of nitrogen in the soil and the large number of roots made for some backbreaking work.  Yeah, yeah, sexy dirt and all that.  

Hey, at least my abs, biceps, triceps, and pecs got a workout.  Who needs a gym when you garden?

The real thing is that having a garden off the deck makes me feel like a grown-up.  Well that and buying a new canopy for the porch swing that matches the umbrella and a tablecloth for the table.  Gone is that curb find college look, it's sort of like, "Oh here's a photo of my deck and I'm not embarrassed."

But I have a guardian angel for my garden.  Her name is Seraphina and she likes to face the East.  I decided she needed to be surrounded by lavender, salvia, phlox, snapdragons, and lilies.  In other words, she needs to be surrounded by pretty colors all the way around.  

Then came some new problems.

Apparently, I have something that likes to eat flowers.  I came out and found something had made a nice little snack of my red lilies and yellow roses.  Seriously?  What the hell eats roses?  

My guess was the squirrels, but everyone keeps looking at me and saying, "I don't think so."  I haven't seen any rogue deer wander through lately and after I got the red lily in, something ate the last of the flowers on it.

I did try planting some Asiatic lily bulbs in Seraphina's garden.  It's a bit late, but I figured I'd give it a try.  I also planted the Dahlia tubers someone gave me.  I don't know if they'll grow or not as this whole flower garden thing is new to me.  At least I can say I tried.

New year, new gardens

 Yes, gardens with a plural s.  This will be long because... well, lots of stuff and it's been a year.

What sexy dirt looks like

The uptown garden has expanded off the deck.  This year I decided to amend the soil. It was a lot of hard work for just some dirt that meant digging two trenches, adding blood meal to each, and then refilling the first trench with the soil from the second trench before topping it off with topsoil... and so on.  It was a lot of work for things to look like dirt.  As one farmer said to me, "But it's becoming sexy dirt."

In that space, I have some strawberries (what's left, at least, after the squirrels found them), two miniature rose bushes from Trader Joe's last Valentine's Day, some snapdragons, lavender, salvia, phlox, and the hosta.  The hostas have been there for ages but keep coming back.  I don't know what the bushes are that have been there for ages, but there they are and they work into things as well.  One of the teachers at school gave me four Dahlia tubers.  I don't know if they'll do anything, but I'll put them in this week as they seem to have a bit of a sprout.  

I also added a couple of covers to the drain pipes - a gargoyle and a dragon to keep him company. 

On the deck, I have the herbs.  On one of the hooks is a large everbearing strawberry plant.  She is a total diva, but I love her. The traditional bowl of herbs this year has dill, a couple of basil plants, flatleaf parsley, rosemary, and marjoram. The rail box has rosemary, oregano, curly parsley, and purple sage. I have a pot of basil on the deck and a bowl of lettuce on one of the tables. I'll add some Parisian carrots when I pick up some drainage rocks for the bottom of my square planter.

I know it will all look beautiful when all the work is done and things have started to fill out and grow.  It all comes down to patience... not a lot of something I have.

Let's Go Downtown...

The downtown garden is getting a lot of work done to it. 

I took this before I started and my husband said, "Wow! It looks good, what are you growing?"

I replied, "Weeds."

Yep, I started late clearing the place out this year.  New England weather has been... well, odd to say the least.  But it's New England so it's to be expected.  It took three or four days to clear it all out.  One of my original raised beds had a couple of boards rotting out, so I had some new wood cut for it.  

Just as a reminder: measure twice, cut once.  I'm ending up with two six by two instead of seven by three beds this year, which is OK.  I did mix up a new batch of Mel's mix (1:1:1 peat moss: mixed compost: vermiculite) for the center bed, which also had new wood and a reduced size bed.  The beauty of the slotted concrete corners is I can pull and insert new boards without having to rip nails out and such.   

Let me give a big shout out to my husband.  All the old wood and debris that had piled up in one corner is mostly gone now because he spent time hauling it to the dumpsters and wood piles for me so I could focus on rebuilding my tomato and pepper boxes. Of course, in the middle of all the weeding and prepping, I discovered a pretty good sized ant colony had taken up residence.  With a little research, I boiled up some water, dissolved some sugar and Borax, and saturated a bunch of cotton balls to place around my boxes.  It seems to work and there will be a full post on that later.

The far box is my peppers and eggplant, the middle box will be the tomatoes this year, and my onion box... well, the onion box is just fine thank you very much, and would like to be left alone to do its thing.  The Egyptian walking onions I thought were going to die last year came back with a vengeance.  It will be a nice crop this year with enough reseeding for next year.  The garlic onion things (I should find out what they're really called) given to me years ago have spread.  There is one clump in the box, the rest have scattered all around the plot.  

Perhaps someone will curse me as a ghost of gardens past as I curse the mint and mugwort planters. It's time to start chasing the rogue plants and dumping them back in the onion box with a firm warning to stay put.  (Oh yeah, that should work.) 

My old tomato box will be my three sister garden.  The corn is planted and I do need to pull and replace the boards around it as well as top off the soil, but it's wicked boring right now.  Photos will come as things grow. Basically, I have to wait until the corn is about 10-12" tall then plant the beans, wait until they are using the corn for support, and then plant the pumpkins. Hopefully, by mid-July it will all be looking good.

Squash and cukes get planted today after some final weeding in their box.  All in all, it's shaping up.  I'll get real photos and shorter posts up... but hey, it's been a year. 

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.  

 

2022 or Begin Again Finnegan

 OK, I'm not a Finnegan.  I'm a Muloghney (I think that's how it's spelled as it went through several changes after we were chased out of Ireland by William of Orange - the bahstahd - and into Canada before coming down the coast to Boston 9 generations ago).  

But after a year of being laid up after my ankle surgery and missing my garden, not starting plants early, battling Flu-A over April school vacation week, and all that happy sunshiny lot of reasons/excuses, I finally made it down to the garden today.

Wow, do I have my work cut out for me!  A year of running amok may have done wonders for the bunnies, groundhogs, pollinators, and such; however, it means I feel like I'm back at square one.

First I needed to start clearing things out.  One of the problems is the little red wagon that lived outside the fence for years is now gone.  So carrying the detritus off to the big pile where the landscaper dump everything for compost and mulching went far more slowly.  I still have a 5-gallon bucket that I could load up and carry off stuff for dumping, but it took far longer.  I have a note to myself to find an old wagon or something online to bring down.

I also think I may ask management for a small communal shed where there can be tools.  I know the woman who runs the garden isn't hot on the idea as people have "borrowed" her tools, often without asking, and replaced them in varying conditions of disrepair.  I still think it's a community garden and let's start acting like a community.

Today's focus was the 4x4 tomato box.  Last year Rascal Rabbit and his family moved in there after eating all my tomato seedlings and I wasn't there to chase him off.   First I had to clean around the outside of the box - where a year of mint began to creep in.  Seriously, don't EVER plant mint in the ground unless you want ground cover and enjoy the smell when you mow.  It's a container thing people - especially in a community garden.

Outside of the box is a sage bush.

This started as a little sage plant that was kind of on its last legs at the supermarket ... or maybe it was a big box store ... six years ago.  

I planted it to see if it would do anything and was delighted when it came back to life the next year and the next.  Well, this year it had thick stems and had really spread around the outside of the box, so I trimmed it back.  It is now contained again and showing some healthy growth all around.  That gave me a lot to be happy about and I now have a bunch of sage hanging in the kitchen drying and waiting to be ground down for use.

After the outside was cleaned up, it was time to focus on the tomato box itself.  Rascal is no longer there, but I cleaned the soil out to be sure.  I then laid down an 8 mil layer of plastic under the box and made a new round of Mel's mix (1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 compost).  I only made about 45 dry gallons before I was too worn out.  Coming back from the flu still really is tough. 

Mel's mix is a great way to start soil in a container or raised bed garden.  The vermiculite and the peat moss create a light, airy soil that drains well and retains moisture around the roots while the compost really brings nutrients to the party.  I use a mix of compost: organic mushroom, lobster and crab compost from Maine, cow compost, and what I get from my composter as well.  It's no more pricey than buying a pre-made container/raised bed mix and it's really not that much work.  When I remove something from the mix to add in something new - say after some spinach or lettuce plays out, I just mix a scoop of compost in and it's good to go.  It will last a good long time and I don't need to worry about weeding really.  I love Square Foot Gardening because I don't have long rows of things to weed, hoe, rake, or maintain - I have a small box.  I lay down a layer of cardboard and some salt marsh hay between the beds to help with weed suppression (and it makes my garden look all pretty).

Some year I may figure out what the hell I'm doing.  We'll see, but I've started again.  

Progress continues...

 Yesterday the boys who did a lot of the work a month ago came over to start working on my 10x10 box - the one the bunnies recently vacated.  First I had to move the chives and walking onions to my onion box where they will now reside.  

The boys came and first, they cleared all the mugwort and mint from around the edges of the garden!  They spent a good 45 minutes pulling and hauling weeds before they set to work starting to clear the box.  This boxy is so dodgy and needed to be dealt with.  years of back and forth and such lead to weird mounding and depths throughout the whole area.  With the boards and bricks removed, the uneven depth of the box is a lot more clear.  

I wanted to focus on one side of the box, if I could get the tomatoes in this weekend, then I knew I'd be good.  So they dug down to the bottom of the existing lumber and ripped up old weed barriers and other things - like long lengths of roots.  They then lined the bottom with cardboard, hardware wire, and weed barrier before adding soil.

The results are beautiful!!!

I will be able to add a simple frame down the middle and string some twine for the plants and add my indeterminate (vining) tomatoes.  I have my "galaxy" tomatoes (Super Nova, Moonbeam, Midnight Pear) and my Atomic Grapes.  I can also transplant my determinate (bushing) tomatoes to their box - the San Marzanos and Romas for sauces.

I tell my students that indeterminate tomatoes are, "Oh, you would like a tomato, here have a tomato," all day all summer while determinates grow and flower and then suddenly yell, "TOMATOES, WE'VE GOT TOMATOES," and are done shortly after that.  You get a LOT of tomatoes at once from those plants and each one is important.  The indeterminate tomatoes are great if you want something on a salad or to pop in your mouth.  I wouldn't make a sauce from cherry tomatoes, even if I might cut some in half to throw into something I'm making.  On the other hand, I wouldn't put a Roma on a salad.  Each tomato, like each person, has their own way of being and enriching our lives somehow.

I planted a couple of dozen corn seeds over a couple of feet in one box (or was it three dozen over four feet... I have to go and look today), transplanted a bunch of pepper plants, and the peas are almost tall enough to start latching onto their poles.

I left some room for eggplants and this week I'll have my son come over and finish the other end of the 10 x 10 box so I can get some squash in.  I love that the boys are now taking ownership of my plot.  Before leaving, one of them was, "We'll get the old PVC and lumber cleaned up next to put in the bean teepee.  I would say they have more than earned their CSA share from what comes out of here. ;) 

Let the Weeding Commence

Every gardener will tell you the one thing that truly sucks is weeding.  For me, it's not the boxes so much (although there's some of that from the breakthrough, persistent ghosts) it is the spots between the beds.  This year, as an attempt to cut down on that, I am slowly but surely getting kids to help by laying down cardboard and then spreading an alternative to saltwater marsh hay.  between my beds is looking sharp and it really is cutting down on a lot of the weeds.  

Yesterday, my youngest took a turn and spent a couple of hours going after some particularly nasty mint and mugwort and got the areas that border the plots next to mine under control.  Funny thing, this morning a Facebook memory popped up of him going after the weeks along the retaining wall at our old house from 11 years when he was a freshman in high school.  

He did a good job, not the job I'd do, but he did a good job and I'm glad I don't have to worry about it as much now.  This weekend, I'll get one of my helpers to go after the ones along the fence, get the cardboard down, and some more mulch.  I'll get my tomatoes in now that my box is refilled and refreshed.  The next big job is the 10x10 box in the middle of the upper part of the plot.  Now that Rascal and company have moved on, it's time to get that area prepped and ready so I can start my squash and get my indeterminates into the ground.

My peppers are ready to go in the ground soon along with my eggplant.  Then it's time to get some tomatoes off to a few other folks out there and it's all good.  My lilacs are thriving and put out some little purple flowers to make me smile.  The deck is starting to look good with the lettuce all popping up and the herb garden starting to delight in being outside.  For now, it's all good.

 

Bunnies, squirrels, and tomatoes

A couple of weeks ago, we found a nest of newborn bunnies nestled between my Egyptian walking onions and chives.  When I was down last week checking on things, there was one little rascal who was bold enough to explore while I was there.  I did name the bunny Rascal and, when we checked the nest, there were 4 or 5 babies in there.  I know babies only stay in the nest a few weeks before moving on when they're big enough.  Sure enough, yesterday Rascal and siblings were gone.  The nest was still warm, but I knew they were gone without me being able to say goodbye.  Checking today, the nest was empty and cold.  

So now it means I can bring the boys back to clean and level my 10 x 10 box and I can think about how to configure it for my indeterminate tomatoes and squash.  Right now I'm thinking a 10' high trellis centered in the box with strings for the tomatoes to climb.  I have a bit to think about it.

When I got home from the garden, I wanted to get my lettuce started on my deck, but we have squirrels.  I love Phat Phred and his antics on the deck.  He uses the umbrella over the table as a playground merry-go-round, running along and spinning it until he goes flying.  I swear he's screaming "Whee" as he goes flying across the quad.  He and his buddies also use the sunshade on my porch swing as a see-saw.  But they also dig up all my plants.  Last year I tried using hot pepper flakes, stones... you name it.  This year I figured I'd make a cage for the top of the box made out of hardware cloth and was pretty pleased with myself.  I can get it off pretty easily and it keeps the squirrels away... right?

Phred made it clear what he thought of my protective cage pretty quickly.  sigh  If only he weren't so damn cute.  So far, he only uses it as a seat while eating and hasn't tried more, but give it time I suppose.  

I also planted my herbs in the planter.  I have a platform inside that leaves a couple of inches for rainwater under the plants.  I filled the rest with soil, put in the herb seedlings - rosemary, sage, oregano, and thyme.  I then laid pieces of hardware cloth on the surface around the plants, added a little more soil, and then a layer of decorative river stones from the dollar store.  They're last year's stones, I gave them a good rinsing first and let them dry in the sunlight.  Again, so far so good.

Phred and friends have pretty much left it alone.  I know he did walk over it once and then sat on the lettuce cage to let me know he didn't like the feel on his paws.  Again, I don't understand how sitting on that stuff is any more comfortable on his fuzzy little butt; however, it doesn't seem to bother him too much.

Of course, yesterday, he sat on my table out on the deck and ate there all while watching me in the kitchen.  When he was done, he stretched out in the sun on top of my covered grill to catch some z's.  I'm OK with him hanging on the deck, really I am.  So long as he doesn't mess with my plants.  I am going to plant some carrots in a bucket and hardware cloth on the top as well to make sure he doesn't mistake it as a place to hide his nut stash.  Just like last year, I will leave an open bucket of dirt for him to use as a stash so he can play gardener too.  

Then there are my tomatoes... oh dear, so many tomatoes!  While my broccoli didn't really make it in my downtown garden, the peas and onions seem to be doing just fine.  My tomato seedlings all germinated.  You would think I would know how this works by now... but no.  I figured most of my seeds were either old or from a company I wasn't sure about.  Since my atomic grapes were a major bust last year, I ended up planting the seeds I had left after my students raided the pack.  (I told them not to... but kids are kids and there isn't much you can do about that.  Turns out it was a good thing as ALL 3 DOZEN SEEDS GERMINATED!!!

I hadn't expected to end up with 30 Atomic Grape plants, but there it is.  I'll pass them onto other people and keep some for me, but I have lots of indeterminates this year.  I have a dozen Midnight Pears with a ton more that need to be separated and repotted.  I have a half dozen Supernova Grapes and four Berries and Cream cherry tomatoes.  I haven't even started on the San Marzano and Romas!  I'm thinking this year the 4 x 4 tomato box will just be the determinates.

Then, of course, are the peppers and eggplant that all came up.  Lots and lots of peppers, hot and sweet, are all showing signs of true leaves and need to be transferred to their own pots.  I started them all at the same time as the tomatoes and they all lived on the heat mat until they popped, but the tomatoes seem to have really enjoyed the conditions.  To be honest, I feel like I started them all a couple of weeks late, and yet they all feel on track at the same time.

Next week I've got to have the boys come back to do some weeding.  I have figured out that if I cover the ground with cardboard and then place the hay on top, there aren't nearly as many weeds as the parts of the garden covered with the hay mulch.  Even then, those areas are a lot less weedy than the areas with no mulch, so I think this science experiment is yielding some early results.  I'll keep an eye on that as the season progresses.