Less work = more posting. More work = less posting.
Funny how that works.
I prefer more frequently posting little bits of news, it’s easier to look back on and see a better timeline of what’s happened, but I can’t complain. I’m finally getting to do all the things I’ve been dreaming about!
It’s sitting at a toasty 31c/88f so we have been mostly just chilling, inside. Chilling being a relative term as we do not have a/c so it’s basically just being out of the sun. There’s a lovely breeze, thankfully, so once the sun has gone down a bit, we’ll head out into the shade and just enjoy summer. We seem to be in part of a heat wave that most of the PNW is in with no real end in sight until mid week, next week. So, I have time to post.
My favourite thing we’ve done is got the garden started. A proper garden, in ground. I spent a few pennies buying amendments and brought over 5 pickup loads of well aged cattle manure from the inlaw’s. It got a somewhat rough “till” with the tractor disc, but it worked ok. There’s lots of clay clumps to deal with still, but also lots of good soil to work with.
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The “best” part (imagine “best” said with humour tinged sarcasm) is that the garden had not gotten marked off before seeding, so the garden, which was part of the hay field and still right next to the hay field, got a good seeding of grass mix and oats. So I joke that I have a Hay Garden!
To add to the fun, the garden hay crop is doing better than the field because of course of the amendments, manure, and regular watering.
Sometimes, you just have to laugh so you don’t cry, ya know?
The best plant growing is the cabbages that we started in March, but didn’t overcrowd. They always had lots of room, light, and water. There’s 20 plants that I just threw in the ground and told them all “may the odds be in their favour” and it seems that fate did favour them. They all quickly recovered from transplant shock and are growing well. I did trim away shocked leaves (wilted) and they perked up and just went crazy. I should at least be able to make a lot of sauerkraut this year.
We planted some root crops to try out – the best soil is only about 4″ deep, but I wanted to see how carrots, radishes, beets, and potatoes would do. The tomatoes (remember that we lost most of them, first to indoor overcrowding this spring, then to a freeze, so they got restarted) have been sluggish. They’ve been in their pots for almost a month and the best I’ve got so far is their first set of true leaves. I’m sad that I screwed up what could have been an epic tomato harvest. There’s time still, and I’m hoping this heat wave kicks the garden into high gear.
Inside, I started pumpkins, spaghetti squash, habanero peppers, more cabbage (as a just in case), broccoli, and cauliflower.
So how are your gardens doing?
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