Finally! We had no rain today, for the first time in what seems like weeks, which allowed the soil to dry out enough that I could turn it over. I should’ve waited another day, really, but the starts I bought last Sunday were really wanting to get in the ground. It’s not [...]
Life and the weather were good today. Home by 6, no rain, and the advent of Pacific Daylight Time (over which I initially grumble) make for daylight aplenty to address issues of the earth. In short: a bed has been weeded, turned, amended, turned some more, raked smooth, and had 35 lettuce starts plugged [...]
Let there be no doubt — if there’s one thing that I believe the success of a garden rises or falls upon (other than water, without which etc.) it is liberal applications of well-composted chicken manure. I am a lazy gardener. I do not test my soil pH and apply carefully-measured amendments of [...]
It is, perhaps, unsurprising, given that we have achieved the Ides of March, but much is in bloom. Today the grape (the Buffalo — the Zinfandel was uprooted in a heretofore undocumented fit of Winter pruning) has burst forth, unfurling juvenile leaves from the spherical buds it has been developing over the past few [...]
Much more has been happening in the garden than this poorly maintained journal would suggest. Peas, and a host of lettuce, the mesclun patch, mache and kale have come and gone. The asparagus showed a modest improvement in spear growth over last year, but still not enough to begin harvesting.
In the orchard, the Hudson’s [...]
Turns out it’s a rainy, dreary Valentine’s Day. However, I took advantage of a dry spell and did weed the raised beds and clean up the strawberry patch. Not exactly a rigorous day in gardening history, but something was done. Rain, rain go away…
I saw my proverbial first robin of spring today, albeit rocking not in a treetop but perched upon the urban blight that is the aerial powerline. Circumstances notwithstanding, it seems as good a portent as any to update the 6-months-idle gardenblog.
It being mid-February there’s very little exciting taking place, but there are signs that [...]
I have just uprooted the passionflower. It has interesting blooms, and did a commendable job of being a living screen for the hot tub, but it has too many negatives. It’s invasive, the fruit is inedible, it’s a rather messy plant, and it has no scent. Henceforth the jasmine will be allowed [...]
The garden has entered into that unfortunate, rather unproductive period which marks the mid-point of Oregon summer. All of the lettuces have bolted in the long, relatively warm days, and we’ve reluctantly uproooted the lot of them today. It’s only the zucchini and crookneck squash which are fruiting at the moment. The [...]
I have been remiss in updating. The corner bed I mentioned last week has been excavated and ammended as planned. It’s not much to look at now, but the bulbs I planted earlier are emerging, and I’ve transplanted some nasturtium starts from another bed — the product of thinning — to fill [...]
Netflix in the house