Thursday, May 28, 2015
As a reference for future years,
This week the last jar of jam and the last jar of salsa were finished. The second-to-last jar of dill pickles was opened.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Garden 2015!
Hello, blog. Long time no see.
It is Tuesday after a (relatively early) Memorial Day weekend, and I'm at work, but head is full of garden. I will compose this blog post today, add pictures later, and delete this sentence. :)
The winter was awful. Truly horrible. Freezing and snowy and, worst of all, persistent and lingering. We were still having sub-zero temperatures at the end of March, and still had enormous snowbanks in mid-April. This past weekend illustrates a true Maine cliche'; Our furnace kicked on overnight Friday night/Saturday morning (set at 60), and yesterday was in the 80s. Don't like the weather? Wait a minute!
By far the most exciting development garden infrastructure this year is the erection of the small green house that I got for my (35th!) birthday, which had been patiently sitting in its box for nearly two years waiting for two adults to have the opportunity to put it up. That finally happened a couple weeks ago, and I'm thrilled to have it. Many thanks to Parker and our good friend Ken for that effort that took the good part of a day. This year we invested in new galvanized wire mesh and T-posts as a pea support system. I got a super new watering can for Mother's Day, and my dear husband brought me some new gloves from his job. We will try to make the existing deer fence work for another year, even though it's pretty torn in spots. Unfortunately, we've lost a couple tools that will need to be replaced by next year (garden rake and hoe), but I think we can limp along until then.
The garden goals for this year are to focus on the crops our family truly loves, rather than experiment with things we may or may not love. The list includes peas, lettuce, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, green beans, cucumbers, broccoli, cabbage, corn, dry beans, squash, and melons. Normally we would plant peppers, but my source for organic seedlings will not have any this year, so I'm not sure we will have them. As usual, the tomato, pepper, and eggplant seedlings I started on out windowsills have done little more than germinate. I bought 12 tomato seedlings from Molly this past weekend (6 slicers, 3 pastes, and 3 cherries), along with some broccoli starts. I am doing three sisters-style plantings this year, with sweet corn, dry beans, and winter squash in the garden, and dent (meal) corn, dry beans, and melons in the tire planters by the house. I will also do a small planting of popcorn in the isolated tire (about 200' feet away from any other corn plantings, to discourage cross-pollination).
As of today (May 26th), everything is in with the exception of the tomatoes, dry beans, squash, and melons.
Also new this year is no-till cultivation. Partially because I wanted to get some things in early, way to early to till, but also because I know it's better for the soil. I scored some mulch hay, which will hopefully help me get the jump on mulching against weeds. So far, we are sitting pretty in the weed department, mostly because it's been very dry for the last month. We have rain scheduled for the next few days, so I'm sure we have a weed explosion in the near future. But, hopefully, also a pea explosion.
I planted peas and lettuce on Patriot's Day, and the peas and lettuce are still only about two to three inches high. Carrots, parsnips, and beets went in the first weekend in May, and potatoes, broccoli (seed), and cabbage went in a week ago. Green beans, cucumbers, and corn all went in yesterday. I will probably plant the tomato plants next weekend. The dry beans and squash will go into the three sisters mounds when the corn is at least three inches high.
This is the beautiful time for the gardener, full of hopes and dreams and anticipation and best intentions! The weather is still pleasant, the insect annoyance manageable, and the weeds have not yet taken over. I'm trying to enjoy it, and remain optimistic about the season to come.
As for Mama's Little Helpers, well, *sigh*. I wish they could learn to play outdoors by themselves. I know I should relish their interest in the garden and whatever I happen to be doing in general, but it's hard. S wants to ask questions, and when she runs out of them, she wants to go inside. J loves all things dirt and digging, which includes digging up dirt where Mama just planted a row of seeds, and "weeding", only with seedlings, not weeds. I'm hoping this will get better as the season wears on, and that they will develop their own interests, and I will develop more patience. They are, after all, wonderful, smart, inquisitive, beautiful children, and any mother would be proud to call them hers.
That's the status of our little homestead on this last week of May, 2015. Stay tuned!
It is Tuesday after a (relatively early) Memorial Day weekend, and I'm at work, but head is full of garden. I will compose this blog post today, add pictures later, and delete this sentence. :)
The winter was awful. Truly horrible. Freezing and snowy and, worst of all, persistent and lingering. We were still having sub-zero temperatures at the end of March, and still had enormous snowbanks in mid-April. This past weekend illustrates a true Maine cliche'; Our furnace kicked on overnight Friday night/Saturday morning (set at 60), and yesterday was in the 80s. Don't like the weather? Wait a minute!
By far the most exciting development garden infrastructure this year is the erection of the small green house that I got for my (35th!) birthday, which had been patiently sitting in its box for nearly two years waiting for two adults to have the opportunity to put it up. That finally happened a couple weeks ago, and I'm thrilled to have it. Many thanks to Parker and our good friend Ken for that effort that took the good part of a day. This year we invested in new galvanized wire mesh and T-posts as a pea support system. I got a super new watering can for Mother's Day, and my dear husband brought me some new gloves from his job. We will try to make the existing deer fence work for another year, even though it's pretty torn in spots. Unfortunately, we've lost a couple tools that will need to be replaced by next year (garden rake and hoe), but I think we can limp along until then.
The garden goals for this year are to focus on the crops our family truly loves, rather than experiment with things we may or may not love. The list includes peas, lettuce, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, green beans, cucumbers, broccoli, cabbage, corn, dry beans, squash, and melons. Normally we would plant peppers, but my source for organic seedlings will not have any this year, so I'm not sure we will have them. As usual, the tomato, pepper, and eggplant seedlings I started on out windowsills have done little more than germinate. I bought 12 tomato seedlings from Molly this past weekend (6 slicers, 3 pastes, and 3 cherries), along with some broccoli starts. I am doing three sisters-style plantings this year, with sweet corn, dry beans, and winter squash in the garden, and dent (meal) corn, dry beans, and melons in the tire planters by the house. I will also do a small planting of popcorn in the isolated tire (about 200' feet away from any other corn plantings, to discourage cross-pollination).
As of today (May 26th), everything is in with the exception of the tomatoes, dry beans, squash, and melons.
Also new this year is no-till cultivation. Partially because I wanted to get some things in early, way to early to till, but also because I know it's better for the soil. I scored some mulch hay, which will hopefully help me get the jump on mulching against weeds. So far, we are sitting pretty in the weed department, mostly because it's been very dry for the last month. We have rain scheduled for the next few days, so I'm sure we have a weed explosion in the near future. But, hopefully, also a pea explosion.
I planted peas and lettuce on Patriot's Day, and the peas and lettuce are still only about two to three inches high. Carrots, parsnips, and beets went in the first weekend in May, and potatoes, broccoli (seed), and cabbage went in a week ago. Green beans, cucumbers, and corn all went in yesterday. I will probably plant the tomato plants next weekend. The dry beans and squash will go into the three sisters mounds when the corn is at least three inches high.
This is the beautiful time for the gardener, full of hopes and dreams and anticipation and best intentions! The weather is still pleasant, the insect annoyance manageable, and the weeds have not yet taken over. I'm trying to enjoy it, and remain optimistic about the season to come.
As for Mama's Little Helpers, well, *sigh*. I wish they could learn to play outdoors by themselves. I know I should relish their interest in the garden and whatever I happen to be doing in general, but it's hard. S wants to ask questions, and when she runs out of them, she wants to go inside. J loves all things dirt and digging, which includes digging up dirt where Mama just planted a row of seeds, and "weeding", only with seedlings, not weeds. I'm hoping this will get better as the season wears on, and that they will develop their own interests, and I will develop more patience. They are, after all, wonderful, smart, inquisitive, beautiful children, and any mother would be proud to call them hers.
That's the status of our little homestead on this last week of May, 2015. Stay tuned!
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