Sitting in our home office this morning I noticed movement far out in the back yard.
Spring has been beautiful here - rainy and lush. Some hot days in the mix, but mostly, it's been pleasant. The only problem I'm encountering is because of so much rain, I can't finish getting my garden put in. Greg reminds me it's still early, but somehow I feel behind. Ah well, I don't control the weather, and even though it's 60 degrees outside today, and perfect for planting, the heavy rain last night has undoubtedly saturated the ground again. A commitment tomorrow means Thursday afternoon/evening and Friday are my best opportunities to plant more seeds before it rains again. Hopefully, the soil will dry out enough to plant, but still be soft enough to easily remove weeds that are proliferating out there.
Meanwhile, I've given over the asparagus patch to fern for the rest of the spring and summer. It was a pitiful harvest, but I'm going to try some suggestions I've found online and in comments some of you have left to see if this patch can produce some healthier looking spears next year. I do wonder if it's just growing old...
Strawberry picking started this week. It seems early, but I'm excited that the patch is producing nicely after thinning it out last autumn.
Some of the strawberries get taken out daily by critters, but I still pick enough that for the previous two springs, and again this spring, I've decided I preferred sharing over netting the plants - and unnetting, and re-netting every other day or so until the plants finish producing.
The sour cherries are starting to ripen, and itty bitty peaches are appearing, so it's time to get serious about clearing out the frozen fruit again. In spite of giving away fresh strawberries, eating them to our hearts' content, and baking for others, there is still plenty to freeze. Add sour cherries and peaches, and we can never seem to manage to use up all the frozen fruit I freeze before the next fruit season is upon us. That said, I haven't bought frozen fruit for a few years now, so there is that! Even though I am not a big fruit eater, thinking we'll possibly live long enough to have to move from here someday, I imagine I will miss the easy, and essentially free, fruit.
While I wait for the garden soil to dry out, I'm making plans for what else to plant.
I'm not going to buy and transplant so many tomato plants this year, or even peppers, but green beans, cucumbers, zucchini and yellow squash are on the docket, and I'm imaging growing some fun pumpkins and a few flowers again. Maybe even watermelon. Though, I'm not sure the garden is big enough for more than one or two vining plants (that need ground space). And while last autumn I told myself I wanted to till up some more earth to enlarge the garden, I'm not so sure about that at this point. For now, it's pleasant to imagine summer's harvest, knowing I'll accept whatever limitations (or even failures) present themselves. Whatever grows that we can eat and share - it's all good.
To close, the irises have faded since the weekend, and I'm so glad I snapped some pictures:
I tried hot sauce mixed with water and straight up cayenne pepper this year without any success in deterring the rabbits. More electricity turned out to be the key for me. I've never heard of bone meal being a deterrent. Does it work for deer too? We have plenty of things outside the electrified fence to protect from them.
ReplyDeleteWe started our new asparagus bed last year. This year there have been only a couple dozen microscopic pencil lead sized spears protrude. Hopefully next year there will be more and a bit larger as that will be the first year we are supposed to pick them.
Ed, bone meal is supposed to be a deterrent to rabbits because of it's smell. I used it last year when I noticed they had nibbled on my already vining green beans, and I didn't lose any - I've had them chew right through the vine before, destroying the whole plant above that point. A couple of years ago, when I discovered this problem, I ran back in the house and pulled some hair out of the garbage I had trimmed off my own head that morning. I assume it worked, as there were no more chewed vines. My hair is short now and I don't cut it myself at this point, so I've lost that easy access. :D
DeleteWe don't deal with deer, but I read bonemeal may repel them, too. A caveat... I read that bone meal may attract carnivores, and it can make dogs sick. Just thought I'd mention that in case you or someone else reading this does have a dog. Good luck on growing asparagus! My understanding is it is not a difficult thing to grow. Our first two springs here, we had more than we could eat, The last two springs have been disappointing - some didn't even bother coming up.
Jams make great gifts from extra fruit you have. I just made more plum jam from plums I had in the freezer last week. Fortunately, I'd already cut them up and measured for the jam which isn't my normal thing. We love growing fruit!
ReplyDeleteHi Vickie! I know jams are a perfect thing to make with fruit, but I don't want all the sugar that jam recipes typically call for. Last year, I tried my hand at making low-sugar jam and it wasn't anything I'd give to anyone else. I salvaged it by mixing in some store-bought all-fruit jam when I opened a jar, and may try making some again and adding some of that during the canning process.
DeleteMy go-to ways to use the fruit that grows here are: eat it fresh (preferred), make muffins or cobblers (but there's the sugar issue, so I don't do that very often), and make popsicles and smoothies throughout the year.
Your Iris look so good against the siding, which contrasts nicely and really shows them off. As for the hooligans eating your garden, I had to look very close, but I did see them carrying out their crimes.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, the garage siding is white, but my phone camera caused it to take on a gray cast - might have been overcast, or my lense's reaction to the purple irises. I agree, it looks nice as a background for the flowers. :)
DeleteBunnies can certainly do a lot of damage but I guess they make up for it in cuteness (then again, maybe not!).
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Mary Anne. I think I would enjoy their cuteness so much more if they'd leave my garden alone... I ended up putting down blood meal, and I haven't seen a rabbit in the garden since. I wrote bone meal above. I'll use bone meal after everything gets a bit more growth on it.
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