This is a journal of my vegetable gardens. Skippy was my first dog and he thought the garden was his, even though I did all the work. Now Suzie and Charley follow in his footsteps. We're located near Boston (USDA zone 6A). I have a community plot, a backyard vegetable garden, fruit trees, berry bushes, chickens, and bees. I use sustainable organic methods and do my best to grow all of my family's vegetables myself.
Lots of progress happening. You must be really excited about all your added space this year. I still have not filled my new beds, bit of slacking happening. I started your Delicate squash a couple days ago in peat pots. Can't wait to cook some up!
Looks great, we have four rows of corn planted but it has been so wet of late thats all we have in. I have a whole tray of plants to get in but I am not going to plant them in the mud.
I look with envy at your chocolate soil. In Perth where I live we have black sand, not much better than beach sand, its almost like hydroponics, we have large underground water supplies that we can access to water our gardens, which dry our so quickly. We are so dry this year, by now we should have had 200mm of rain - we have had 20mm!
I see you have straw as mulch on some of your beds. Does that work well? What do you do with the straw at the end of the season - turn it under into the soil, or can you pull it off easily? I am trying to figure out the pros and cons of different mulch options...
The mulch is salt marsh hay, a great mulch because it is very resistant to rot, doesn't bring in weed seeds to the garden (as regular hay/straw does), and suppresses weed growth.
I should remove it from my garlic bed soon so the soil can dry out more - we have another damp spring, it seems. I'll eventually get to pulling it back.
It doesn't turn in well. I've been piling it up and will try reusing it again next winter. I'd like to find a tarp to put over the pile for the summer.
Salt hay has many pros. Its really ideal. The cons however are that it can be hard to find and the harvest isn't good for the salt marsh, particularly nesting birds. I don't know a lot about this, though it seems that they do time harvests for minimal impact.
You're very observant about dogs! Skippy was too hot. He seems to get uncomfortable easily in the sun. The black fur I guess. He'll get clipped short soon.
And I haven't remembered to bring his water bowl to the garden yet. I even have a umbrella in the car for him that I'll bring to the garden soon.
We had a nice walk before working in the garden on this day. And Skippy even had a nice swim already at the water hole. He didn't do any digging.
Just after I took these photos, I wasn't thinking and let him out of the plot without his leash. He was thrilled and decided to play keep away for a while. He had enough energy left to tease me a while. Other gardeners laughed as I chased him through the garden paths. I laughed too - he deserved some fun.
8 comments:
Lots of progress happening. You must be really excited about all your added space this year. I still have not filled my new beds, bit of slacking happening. I started your Delicate squash a couple days ago in peat pots. Can't wait to cook some up!
Looks great, we have four rows of corn planted but it has been so wet of late thats all we have in. I have a whole tray of plants to get in but I am not going to plant them in the mud.
Looking Good Skippy! I bet he helped a lot.
I look with envy at your chocolate soil. In Perth where I live we have black sand, not much better than beach sand, its almost like hydroponics, we have large underground water supplies that we can access to water our gardens, which dry our so quickly. We are so dry this year, by now we should have had 200mm of rain - we have had 20mm!
Bare soil like that is just mouth watering! I just want to plant stuff everywhere! Skippy looks tired in that photo, has he been helping you dig?
I see you have straw as mulch on some of your beds. Does that work well? What do you do with the straw at the end of the season - turn it under into the soil, or can you pull it off easily? I am trying to figure out the pros and cons of different mulch options...
- Amelia
Amelia,
The mulch is salt marsh hay, a great mulch because it is very resistant to rot, doesn't bring in weed seeds to the garden (as regular hay/straw does), and suppresses weed growth.
I should remove it from my garlic bed soon so the soil can dry out more - we have another damp spring, it seems. I'll eventually get to pulling it back.
It doesn't turn in well. I've been piling it up and will try reusing it again next winter. I'd like to find a tarp to put over the pile for the summer.
Salt hay has many pros. Its really ideal. The cons however are that it can be hard to find and the harvest isn't good for the salt marsh, particularly nesting birds. I don't know a lot about this, though it seems that they do time harvests for minimal impact.
Matron,
You're very observant about dogs! Skippy was too hot. He seems to get uncomfortable easily in the sun. The black fur I guess. He'll get clipped short soon.
And I haven't remembered to bring his water bowl to the garden yet. I even have a umbrella in the car for him that I'll bring to the garden soon.
We had a nice walk before working in the garden on this day. And Skippy even had a nice swim already at the water hole. He didn't do any digging.
Just after I took these photos, I wasn't thinking and let him out of the plot without his leash. He was thrilled and decided to play keep away for a while. He had enough energy left to tease me a while. Other gardeners laughed as I chased him through the garden paths. I laughed too - he deserved some fun.
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