Planting

This is my first real harvest of the season, from April 30, 2015. The greens and radishes came out of the cold frame and the asparagus and chives just came up out of the ground!

Most of what these days are about is not harvesting but planting. The cold frame really does help to have some results so the idea of getting food isn’t completely conceptual right now. It also gives me a head start on slow-growing carrots that are starting to come up thanks to the greenhouse effect of the cold frame. Finally, I was able to put my cauliflower and broccoli seedlings in there the past two weeks, where they were able to “harden off” and remain safe from the wind.

In my kitchen there is a list right now of “garden priorities.” I tend to be one of those people who wants everything done immediately. At work I always feel overwhelmed on Monday and then have not much to do later in the week. I can’t seem to pace myself.

The list helps. I can tell myself I’ll do one thing on the list each day. In that way the beans have gotten planted and the paths in the garden plot covered with landscape fabric and cedar mulch. Yesterday, the potato bags got planted, a fun task that involves driving the bags out to the yak compost pile and mixing soil (peat, yak compost and mushroom compost) in the large wheelbarrow, then shoveling it into the bags with the seed potatoes. I came in afterwards and started a poem about the yak compost.

The main goal for the weekend is to get these chickens out of my basement! I’m hoping to get Steve on Sunday (poor guy’s one day off) to fence their yard and we’ll cover it with netting to keep the hawks at bay. Boy are they going to be happy to discover how much room they will have! I think they will be naturals at digging for bugs. They’re already scratching the floor of the cage. I’m happy to report they are not pecking each other, but they are pecking the cage. Two more days, guys.

I also am claiming a large plot of cleared land for future use. Next year we’ll do some permanent structures like wood raised beds, but this year it will be for growing squash vines. However, I can’t resist carving out more good plant space, and I’m planning to haul out about 30 cement blocks from behind the barn for a temporary raised bed as well. I have started so many pepper and tomato plants, and I can’t let them go to waste just because the greenhouse isn’t finished!

My usual tendency of taking over the flower bed for vegetables is also showing its face. This morning I transplanted four kinds of cabbages where the alyssum border usually goes and since I was able to split my giant thyme plant (which I successfully kept alive all winter), the usual thyme border can also be replaced with other herbs. I am trying to resist plopping some onions in there.

In my defense, I also started cosmos, poppies and dahlias inside and they have excellent placement in what is properly a flower garden bed.