What We Did Today

Jonquils and Siberian squill in the West garden

Today was a super busy day. I was out in the garden by 6AM trying to beat the heat and incoming rain. I washed up the cage we transported the pigs in so it would dry before it rained.

I was bound and determined to finish the new fence around the Big garden. But before I did that, I had to lay down the west side fence of that garden on the ground. My husband is going to take down a huge limb on the catalpa to stop it shading that corner of the garden. It would probably hit the fence, so I laid it down, hoping for little damage, as I’ve had about enough for 1 year of fence repair.

Then I set to and finished the last side of the fencing and got it all mulched. I had thought we’d move the creeping thyme out of the New Herb garden this morning and put it under the trees. So I raked up all the catalpa pods and moved the chairs.

Then I got out all the hoses and hooked them up to their respective faucets. I needed a hose to wash screens this afternoon when it was hot. My helper friend had arrived and I set him to work feeding the seedlings in the cold frame. We both were pitying the poor celery, a victim of boron overdose. I decided we’d plant it now and hope it could pull itself up and grow. It was going in the Small garden.

Carrot row with the tape measure, celery row 2 to the right

We toyed with planting the onions, which desperately need it, but that would mean mixing up the amendment for that garden. So I decided, not today.

We collected all the implements of destruction and started in, moving mulch, spreading amendments, broadforking, then scratching in the amendments, and as we talked we realized it would be a smart move to do the carrots BEFORE the celery as we’d have to step over the celery or walk around it. So we did the above all over again, for the carrots. Then we planted them, mulched them, and planted the pathetic celery and mulched it. By then it was nearly 11 and getting real hot.

New North garden cleaned out for the first time in 2 years

So we cleaned up the equipment and found gardens in the shade and weeded until lunch time. I was working on the New North garden, a 16’ x 4’ garden and my helper did the North Corner, the Old North, and moved over to the West Herb. The first of his 2 are small gardens.

Old North – Jacob’s ladder, lesser celandine, squill, bloodroot

North Corner – 1st primrose

North Corner – Dutchman’s breeches

New North - hellebore

New North - trillium

We finished at 1PM and he left. I started washing screens as I have help coming to do windows early Saturday morning and it’s to rain all day Friday.

I finished that at 2:45 and was sooo tired!

I got a shower and laid on the couch watching The Darling Buds of May.

My husband spent all day setting up the brooder and enclosure in the cold room. He got the heat lamps in the brooder set so it was holding at 95F. They are on a thermostat. He set up the bell waterer, ground the chick feed, and got out the red trays we use for supplemental water for the littlest chicks that can’t reach the bell (on stack of wood).

Then he cleaned up the main aisle of the barn and the butchershop. We are 2 wiped out puppies tonight!