Getting there
Sep. 25th, 2012 09:44![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillYesterday I planted most of the winter garden. The place is pretty well transformed: I took a bunch of salvaged bricks that had been lying around here and edged the beds. That let me clean up the paths and mound the amendments pretty high, and it looks great so far. (Pictures available on my G+ feed.) I still need to get rid of the pots off to one side, mostly by donating the plants to Markham Arboretum's plant sale, but then I'll have even more clear space to work with.
Today I'm planning to pick up some fine mulch for the pathways so that I don't break my neck this winter skidding on packed, uneven, slippery clay. (The voice of experience.) That should keep weeds down even more, too. I'm hoping never to have to clear the place again, just do a little spot-weeding.
On to the plants! I already had collards which have freakishly decided to go another season -- they're annuals, they should have gone to seed this summer. Last year's chard is thriving. I have a couple of little parsleys, and a couple of volunteer snapdragons. Yesterday I put in curly kale, more parsley seed (for next year, they take a year or so to start off), sugar snap peas, beets, wild purple-flowered salsify, garlic, and multiplier onions. I also shuffled some junior bulbing onions from last year off to one corner to see what they do this year. Once a seed order comes in, I'll round things out with dill, celery root, and some heirloom radishes which are supposed to be sweet rather than pungent. I may add a few more flowers if something catches my eye at the nursery.
That should do pretty well for us, I think. I looked up the requirements for beets and decided that they're probably scrubby and slow because of lack of nitrogen; I amended their bed pretty heavily and I'll try to feed them midseason to see whether that helps. I also spaced them further apart. I increased spacing for the garlic and onions, too, as I've despaired that I keep getting small bulbs off of them. I'll feed them heavily as well. All the beds got horse manure in quantity, and I'm adding alfalfa pellets to that (the alfalfa alone is at an almost 200lbs/acre rate of nitrogen, which is the upper end of what these plants want). THAT should make them sit up and take notice.
In other news, I am now the proud owner of more than 140 long clay roof tiles. These fellows are nearly 18" tall, which will let me have very nice high beds even after I dig them in several inches. I got them for 50 cents each because of the quantity, which makes picking through Urban Ore's yard for an hour totally worth it. They will build two long tomato rows (out of five), though I can build only one for starters -- I have to keep a wide path open through the dormant garden so I can herd wood-chip trucks through there. Annoying, but it's the best route. One other row is out of service because I need to kill off the lily-of-the-valley-vine creeping under it, and that will take a few years of heavy sheet mulch. So I will (hopefully!) have two raised beds and two flat beds to compare next year.
The beans are going gangbusters, but they have only the basil for company: the tomatoes have slowed, the pepper plants are bitty as usual, the zucchini all but gave up weeks ago, and the cucumbers are creaking along. They never really got started this year, for all my efforts. I have high hopes for the sweet potato harvest next month, as it's been quite hot enough this season and the vines have been creeping everywhere (and putting out lots of flowers). Crossed fingers there.
Out front, the currants are struggling a bit; all but one have lost their leaves, though I don't think all of them are dead. The two blueberries in the ground are managing, and the last one in the pot is touch and go. The new apple tree is thriving. Everyone else seems okay, even the catnip -- I guess a few weeks of snap-traps discouraged the raccoon who had developed a taste for it. I should pull some rhubarb for an early-fall pie.
Anyway, off to tackle more yardwork.
Today I'm planning to pick up some fine mulch for the pathways so that I don't break my neck this winter skidding on packed, uneven, slippery clay. (The voice of experience.) That should keep weeds down even more, too. I'm hoping never to have to clear the place again, just do a little spot-weeding.
On to the plants! I already had collards which have freakishly decided to go another season -- they're annuals, they should have gone to seed this summer. Last year's chard is thriving. I have a couple of little parsleys, and a couple of volunteer snapdragons. Yesterday I put in curly kale, more parsley seed (for next year, they take a year or so to start off), sugar snap peas, beets, wild purple-flowered salsify, garlic, and multiplier onions. I also shuffled some junior bulbing onions from last year off to one corner to see what they do this year. Once a seed order comes in, I'll round things out with dill, celery root, and some heirloom radishes which are supposed to be sweet rather than pungent. I may add a few more flowers if something catches my eye at the nursery.
That should do pretty well for us, I think. I looked up the requirements for beets and decided that they're probably scrubby and slow because of lack of nitrogen; I amended their bed pretty heavily and I'll try to feed them midseason to see whether that helps. I also spaced them further apart. I increased spacing for the garlic and onions, too, as I've despaired that I keep getting small bulbs off of them. I'll feed them heavily as well. All the beds got horse manure in quantity, and I'm adding alfalfa pellets to that (the alfalfa alone is at an almost 200lbs/acre rate of nitrogen, which is the upper end of what these plants want). THAT should make them sit up and take notice.
In other news, I am now the proud owner of more than 140 long clay roof tiles. These fellows are nearly 18" tall, which will let me have very nice high beds even after I dig them in several inches. I got them for 50 cents each because of the quantity, which makes picking through Urban Ore's yard for an hour totally worth it. They will build two long tomato rows (out of five), though I can build only one for starters -- I have to keep a wide path open through the dormant garden so I can herd wood-chip trucks through there. Annoying, but it's the best route. One other row is out of service because I need to kill off the lily-of-the-valley-vine creeping under it, and that will take a few years of heavy sheet mulch. So I will (hopefully!) have two raised beds and two flat beds to compare next year.
The beans are going gangbusters, but they have only the basil for company: the tomatoes have slowed, the pepper plants are bitty as usual, the zucchini all but gave up weeks ago, and the cucumbers are creaking along. They never really got started this year, for all my efforts. I have high hopes for the sweet potato harvest next month, as it's been quite hot enough this season and the vines have been creeping everywhere (and putting out lots of flowers). Crossed fingers there.
Out front, the currants are struggling a bit; all but one have lost their leaves, though I don't think all of them are dead. The two blueberries in the ground are managing, and the last one in the pot is touch and go. The new apple tree is thriving. Everyone else seems okay, even the catnip -- I guess a few weeks of snap-traps discouraged the raccoon who had developed a taste for it. I should pull some rhubarb for an early-fall pie.
Anyway, off to tackle more yardwork.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-09-26 05:05 (UTC)If I don't see you sooner, I look forward to seeing you Thursday. =) But know that I'll be around all day tomorrow and the house will be empty otherwise until M comes home around 1:30 pm.