The Garden!

Wow, has it been cold. Like 15-20° colder than our usual April temperatures.  But still, this has not stopped us from garden planning.  Hannah and I did get peas in the weekend after St. Patrick’s Day, and they are finally up. The curly leaf parsley has overwintered for its second year in a row (seriously hardy) and the garlic is UP!

Now to the beds.  This weekend I am going to finish clearing the Back 40 and put down clear plastic for the rest of April and May in an attempt to solarize the area (use sunlight to heat the ground enough to rid it of some weeds and grubs).  We generally don’t plant annuals until then, and with my niece’s wedding on May 29, I probably won’t get some things out until the first week of June.  We are planning on removing two weed trees which should open up the sunlight in the area, though it will still be partial sun – so, my thinking is to plant summer greens crops, broccoli and kale in that area. But first I have to contend with ground ivy (aka ground mint or creeping Charlie – erk).  I will want to raise beds back there as well.  So there is some heavy lifting to do.

The front 40 needs some reshaping and two of the beds need reinforcing, but they are almost ready for early greens and herb seeds. I need to rotate the beds this year, so I will plant peas and beans in the old tomato beds and move the heavy feeders to where my legumes were last year. I think that I won’t even bother to re-experiment with edamame after last year’s rabbit deforestation of the plants.

This on top of the landscape work that we want to do in the front yard should keep us busy. Our yard is well overgrown, so we are planning on cleaning up and being deliberate about one area of the yard a year for the next few years – this should spread out the cost of tree removal and replanting and give us a chance to catch our breath.

So, two big summer projects. Both growing something worthwhile.