Garden Update

We had decent weather in the middle of last month. Bob was kind enough to help me and we were human rototillers, spread a bunch of manure, raked up the soil and were ready for planting.

I went crazy in the seed section and in a burst of enthusiasm, bought a bunch of seed packets. When I got home I found I still had tons of seeds from previous years.

One seed packet has too many seeds for the casual home farmer. I put all the expired seeds into a cup, mixed in a little dirt and then flung over our freshly prepared soil. Then I raked.

What you see here is the results although most of the sprouts are hidden in the shade. I think I have lots of beets and greens. Also, volunteer sunflowers. I’m going to be meaner to the sunflowers this year. Last year I let them have their way and they over-crowded everything else.

That part in the front where the cages are, those are peas. I planted every seed I could find.

I still haven’t put tomatoes in and I have got to get a rosemary bush going. Mine died a couple of years ago and then the replacement died and that is an herb that I actually use on a regular basis. I started the pumpkins inside on the windowsill and I’m trying some melons this year. I don’t think it’s warm enough but it’s fun to try.

For years we had an apple tree pruner. A couple of years ago he had a hip replacement and had to prune late. I wondered it if was a bad idea to let an elder with a recently replaced hip stand on a ladder and prune a tree in my yard.

But he was up for it and it went just fine. Last year he retired and we went prune-less.

We found someone new this year who did a terrific job. We will not have the apple-mageddon that we had last year.

Every once in awhile I get suckered into these variety flower seed packages. The result is either nothing or one single flower that ends up reseeding itself in every nook and cranny for miles. It looks like I finally eradicated the chamomile, which is a shame because I liked that plant. Now I have these orange flowers.