Golden Rule Garden, 3/20/09This seems like a great time for a State-of-the-Garden report, to take stock of where we are now and what is imminent...
We'll start with the perennials. Someone is confused in the garden, and I think it is them. They've all been living here longer than I have, but I'm pretty sure that just because it is officially Spring, and just because it has gotten nice and warm for the past stretch of time, it is not by any means certain that no hard frost lies in our near future. But the raspberries are caning, the blueberries are forming flowers, the Asian pear is tempting fate with its buds and the asparagus is four or five inches high. We'll see. As the folks who buy their tomato starts in February say, "You never know. This year may be different!" And our perennials will be ready.
I talked to Mom today, and she pointed out how lucky we are to be moving ahead with garden preparation. They weather has been nice and warm back in Ohio, but that simply means that the ground has thawed into a thick muddy mess.
We are starting to pull up cover crops to plant potatoes, and have already put in about 250 square feet of them already. Those that haven't been pulled are shooting skyward, as are the fava beans and the seed heads of the green onions we didn't quite get harvested last fall. We have happy garlic and lettuce, and Margo just planted sugar snap peas yesterday. A little early, perhaps, but something to look forward to.
Our broccoli is flowering.As for work, we are clearing paths from weeds (which seem to give us
half of our compost material themselves) and building compost. Here is Margo with the first pile this year! We have also started sifting the compost piles from last Fall to get out the rocks and un- decomposed material out.
half of our compost material themselves) and building compost. Here is Margo with the first pile this year! We have also started sifting the compost piles from last Fall to get out the rocks and un- decomposed material out.And flatting... We have promise of wonderful crops in flats in the greenhouse right now. Allow me to rattle off the list: arugula, basil, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, eggplant, flax, kale, leeks, the ever-present lettuce, mustard, parsley, peas, sweet peppers, hot peppers, quinoa, salsify, spinach, stevia, tomatillos, and tomatoes.
Finally, the main-season wildlife is starting to show up again. Most notable are the western bluebirds and cliff swallows. One of these days I'm going to post our bird list on here, as inspired by Anne.
So Happy Spring, everyone! I hope you get all the water and sun you need to get your gardens going!
One of our male western bluebirds shows what he's all about
How do you compost your weeds to kill seeds that want to grow later? What type of composter... I guess is what I am asking? and what do you use to heat it up? Manure? I compost weeds and they grow the next year?!?! I compost in a ventilated commercial bin with rabbit manure layered with weeds and leaves. It composts down quite nicely within 6 months, but seeds survive!
ReplyDeleteHope this makes sense : )
Michele
Boise, IDaho zone 6a.
Hey Michele!
ReplyDeleteI think I should probably write a post just about the way we compost to cover the questions you offer... The simple answer is that 1) we compost in piles, which heat up (desirably) to no more than 140 F. The microbial action is what creates the heat in this case. 2) Unfortunately weed seeds aren't killed in the process, and so we TRY not to put weeds going to seed in our compost piles.
This time of year the practice of "getting rid of" weeds gone to seed seems like a big waste. Removing from the garden system that much biomass is not desirable to em, especially since weeds can concentrate trace minerals that domesticated crops don't. So we decided to make compost piles this Spring just from weeds, and to use the resulting compost only for flatting seedlings, so that any surviving seeds will not be spread on the garden. So far this has been a great success... I'll try to post on our composting in the next two weeks to answer in greater depth. Thanks for asking!
Do you raise rabbits for meat or wool, or for fun? It sounds like you do some gardening, too.