Category Archives: A to Z Blog Challenge

Easy Does It

Posted on April 6, 2015 | 5 comments

I’m trying hard not to take on too much this year. The garden season always comes with new and exciting ideas to try. Just looking at my Pinterest board makes me eager and overwhelmed at the same time.

There are just so many things out there.

So many seed varieties.

So many new techniques.

So many hours in the day.

So many…

For the past two years I have started out the season with a pledge:

“I will not take on more than I can handle this year.”

For the past two years…I’ve taken on more than I can handle. Thinking, “Oh, it’s just one more small project. I can handle it.”

I’m not saying it will be any different this year. We are already talking about adding a pond, getting ducks, propagating plants to add to the swales and getting a couple of turkeys (I hope my husband was kidding about the turkeys.). All this in addition to planting, maintaining and harvesting our annual garden.

But, I am pushing myself to see everything we have done since we moved in 3 years ago.

We have swales.

We have trees.

We have raised beds.

We have chickens.

We have a kitchen garden, a strawberry patch, a vineyard and a fedge.

We have gained knowledge every step of the way.

So when a project doesn’t get completed in the season. It’s not a failure…it’s just put on hold until next year.

Next year, when “I will not take on more than I can handle.”

5 Comments

Posted in A to Z Blog Challenge, Garden Stories, Life, Permaculture, Preparedness, Writing

Digging

Posted on April 4, 2015 | Leave a comment

The borage has been planted
We’ve sowed the lettuce seeds
The paths are in the garden
To keep out all the weeds

Next we’ll plant the onions
Carrots, shallots too
Snap peas soon will follow
Potatoes, red and blue

We’ll dig, we’ll plant, we’ll water
Each plant will grow and thrive
The season will be plentiful
The garden we’ll revive

Cardboard Paths

Posted on April 3, 2015 | 5 comments

Today is the perfect day to lay garden paths. I try every year to define walking paths so we don’t compress the soil when harvesting.

I have the best of intentions at the start of the season. Then I get ~~distracted by the boys~~ lazy and the weeds and plants eventually take over.

The garden turns into a beautiful jungle.

When I designed the kitchen garden this year, I drew up a grid with paths. Each square has a group of plants designed to work together all season. Even though the patches will be bigger and a square foot, I’m using the same basic idea.

Marigolds everywhere.

Borage in almost every square.

Garlic sprinkled throughout.

Today is perfect for defining these planned paths because it’s a little rainy and there’s almost no wind.

Why cardboard?

It’s everywhere and free if you know a friend who’s moving, order anything from Amazon or ask the grocery store to save their boxes. Of course, you won’t want to use coated or heavily inked cardboard.
It’s biodegradable. It will decompose within 3 months…perfect for the garden season.
It will hold water and keep it where it is needed: in your garden.
It’s worm food. Worms love munching on it. They munch away and their waste makes an awesome soil amendment. They aerate and drain the soil making it an ideal gardening environment.
It’s function stacking and making use of renewable resources. Permaculture at work.

I’ve already laid out the paths I want. The next step is to cut the cardboard to size and secure with landscaping staples. I’m not sure I will cover with wood chips. I think the cardboard will be enough of a barrier.

I’m not too worried about how it will look either. It’s more important that it works.

The sun is hiding today
Masked by a sky that’s gray
Rain looms

The wind is quiet and light
The grass turned green overnight
Spring blooms

5 Comments

Posted in A to Z Blog Challenge, Garden Stories, Permaculture, Writing

Buttercrunch and Bliss

Posted on April 2, 2015 | 3 comments

Last year, I bought 1 oz of Butter Crunch lettuce seeds.

I like it…a lot actually. I like it so much that I bought an ounce, which is somewhere between 17,000 and 34,000 seeds.

So yeah. I like it.

I planted the first round in a box on our deck and in a square of our kitchen garden.

Joe and Jake sat and supervised my work, munching on goldfish crackers.

Once they were satisfied with my job, we set off to explore the swales and tend to the chickens.

All the water had soaked into the berms so the boys had free reign to run through the swales.

They took off quickly. All I could see were their blonde and brown heads, bobbing above the berms as they raced through the swales.

The chickens had been out roaming all day long. They stayed pretty close to their coop, only venturing as far as the southern swale and the garden shed.

I thought that they would have laid eggs all over the place and was prepared to have an early Easter egg hunt–but there were 6 eggs in the laying boxes.

Good girls.

Joe decided he needed to do some digging in the swale. He wanted to plant a tree there. We’ll be propagating some of our Autumn Olive and aronia to plant in the berms so he will be a big help when we are ready to plant.

I love how excited they both are to help.

Even though sometimes their ‘help’ doubles the time it takes to do a simple task, it does my heart good to see their delight in planting a seed and their pride in “helping Mommy plant in the garden”.

Sunny happy smiles
Boys full of bliss and delight
Little gardeners

3 Comments

Posted in A to Z Blog Challenge, Garden Stories, Writing

All About that Borage

Posted on April 1, 2015 | 5 comments

Yesterday, we planted borage in our kitchen garden, the strawberry patch, the vineyard and the fedge.

The chickens had been moving over the kitchen garden all winter, scratching, eating and fertilizing the ground. My spade slid into the soil with no resistance.

We decided to plant borage everywhere this year. It proved to be a successful trap crop in the never ending war against the dreaded Japanese beetle.

The beautiful, purple herb lured the garden curse away from our other plants. The pests could not resist it’s dusky purple flowers.

I had two eager planting partners. Jake and Joe were quite the team.

They used new garden tools they got as an early Easter gift. Joe loosened up the soil with his little rake, Jake sprinkled powdered egg shells over the roughed up patch and they both dropped seeds and covered them with a layer of dirt.