Gardens Do Not Take Vacations

We get so distracted with all the chores.. it is nice to stop and appreciate the beauty of the flowers around us.

The crops are growing as fast as weeds. They are!  But are weeds are at a minimum this year due to the continual success of the lasagna gardening method. (See a prior post on the how-to).

We are headed out of town for a week so I really tweaked the tidying up and harvesting. I wanted to keep my workload upon return to a minimum.  Two of our daughters will be here and can keep up with any of the minor tasks that need to be done while we’re gone.

I’m on the first repeat layer for the lasagna layers. Upon returning I will shovel some garden soil on the areas to begin the cycle all over again. The larger compost items such as watermelon rinds, etc that need more time and heat to break down have been put into the tumbler compost bin. That should be ready for emptying upon our return also. These next layer sets seem to go much quicker than the first. I think that is due to green items available this time of year to layer. We get more from pinching and trimming. Also the grass clippings add up quickly.

The days and nights have been remaining warmer. Our nights have not gone below 49F. Our days have averaged around 72F. Hot weather is in the forecast (85F to 90F) for this coming week and will certainly promote more blossoming.  I noticed new blossoms on the pickling cukes, all the squashes, and tomatoes. Best part about the days getting longer and warmer is seeing that first pepper so early!

Our watering is now set on a timer. I didn’t want to take a chance while away to loose all of my hard work. While setting up the timer, Mousse had a puppy moment. We use two sections of hose to reach the sprinkler. There is one from the sprinkler to the edge of the garden gate. Another from there to the faucet. This enables us to disconnect easily in order to mow the yard. It also gives us a hose to fill a watering can or rinse off vegetables. Joe had noticed a bubble in the later hose earlier in the day and mentioned it to me. I had totally forgot about it. When I went to use the hose to clean off some pots I just emptied, the bubble burst scaring the sleeping puppy. She did the normal jump and run like heck to get out of the way of spraying water. The funny part was that she had wrapped her lead around the leg of the folding table I use in the garden. Now the table was being dragged after her. Only she thought the table was chasing her. She would run faster and the table would chase her just as fast. It was certainly a break in the normal peacefulness of the garden. I wish I had a video of that. But my hands were full trying to get her to stop and not be afraid of that “table”. Hose is now repaired and the new dual timer is installed correctly. We’ve used it for a few days now and it works perfectly!

I love rhubarb!  We’ve had a bumper first sowing of it this year. I treated Joe to a fresh strawberry rhubarb pie. I always over fill my fruit pies because they cook down so much. So for this one I used 2 ½ c strawberries and 2 ½ c rhubarb. I also made up a batch of rhubarb syrup. This is a great concoction over ice cream or mixed to make a rhubarb-tini.

I can't wait to see some of the gardens in Oregon. I wonder if I should bring a clean pair of gloves with me...

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

I always have my personal help in the garden. Mousse is lounging under a beach umbrella waiting for play time.

Memorial Day weekend is the usual calendar signal for northern gardeners to begin their plantings. But with a little bit of effort and time, we can lengthen our growing season.

This year we installed inexpensive and movable hoop tunnels for a few rows to get a jump on our growing season. They will also be used to extend our harvests in to the winter.  This week the heavier covers came off and the lighter covers went on. They will remain on for a few more weeks until all dangers of those surprise late spring frosts have passed.

The corn started indoors from seed was transplanted two weeks ago. It is thriving and taking off like crazy. Starting it indoors also reduced the opportunity for the bugs and insects to attack those early seedlings, which routinely happens around here.  Another upside to this is that we will have a corn harvest 3 to 4 weeks earlier than normal!  The sweet pie seeds that I inter-planted in those rows are sprouting and will provide coverage to keep the weeds to a minimum.

I am an upcycler at heart and like to reuse anything and everything I can. When cleaning out the rafters of the garage, I found this wonderful contraption. I decided to use it to support my pickling cukes. This will also provide some shade for some lettuce so it will not bolt so early.

Watering is a breeze this year. The garden is quite large and the chore of moving a sprinkler around each section was always cumbersome. I secured a heavy piece of pipe in the center of the garden.  Approximately 4 feet is above the ground. It is the perfect place to secure my sprinkler now. This enables one sprinkler to satisfy the entire garden at one time. Was this a huge time saver!