Daylight Savings time moves us an hour forward this weekend. Meanwhile, Trump rallies are moving us 50 years backwards!
— Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) March 12, 2016
PSA, just in case.
From loyal garden correspondent Marvel, last week:
This afternoon, we expect the start of a week-long Willamette Valley rain cycle. The morning was balmy (mid-50s), so we went out back and did some initial clean-up in some of the raised beds. We removed their Winter covers (sturdy 6-mil plastic hung over PVC ribs) and weeded the living daylights out of the soil. Taking the row covers off was the garden equivalent of switching on a kitchen light and surprising a roomful of cockroaches (eek): it was hard to believe the vitality, variety and quantity of weeds that had been lurking and thriving in their clear-cloaked paradise. Happy to say: the weeds pulled out easily and we finished the clean-up well before the first storm clouds moved in. We’ll let the beds get a good soaking, then next week it’ll be time to work in some new compost & leaf mulch.
We also trimmed and cleaned-up the Winter veggies: the kale is robust and (knock on wood) pest free; the parsley survived a couple of nasty frigid blasts; the garlic’s ready to start forming lovely bulbs and a half-bed of second-growth cabbage is looking strong & willing.
The peas I planted a coupe of weeks ago are nearly ready to sneak their little noggins out of the ground. Yay.
***********
Here north of Boston, the very first daffodil buds opened up yesterday, in the southern-facing front bed next to the heat-leaking basement window. Sturdy green shoots dotted around the microclimes of our tiny property promise the usual progression: the daffs along the eastern chimney wall will open next, followed by the ones in the tree-shaded west side yard, and finally the ones along the northern exposure of the back chainlink fence. By that time, the irises in the front beds should be well along, and the vinca / creeping phlox flourishing blue & purple.
Now I need to begin spring cleaning… and finish making lists & order my tomato plants, too!
What’s going on in your garden (planning) this week?
Currants
Marvel, love your photos always. I know your rainfall is normally generous, but do you also have irrigation in your raised beds?
Currants
@Currants: (i.e. Are those irrigation lines/piping in the pea bed?)
JPL
Marvel’s gardens are so lovely. My broccoli plants survived the winter and are still producing. I have a few cabbage plants and some collards. The kale bit the dust, though.
PurpleGirl
Nice pictures, Marvel. I look forward to more pictures over the spring as you plant things and have flowers and veggies growing.
I need to decide if I want to stay home for breakfast or go out and how soon. When there is more light, I’ll walk to the other building where the water main break happened and see just how bad it is. (In case you haven’t seen my comment in the thread below, there was a water main break in my complex and several buildings don’t have water. Around 2 AM, I went to take the elevator to the lobby to see they had posted something about the lack of water and found a sign on the elevator door about the water main break. Repairs are supposed to be started this morning.) The apartment is also feeling a bit chilly — no water, I guess no (steam) heat. I wonder if the commercial building also lost water — there are three restaurants and grocery store there. Which means I need to go up/down Queens Boulevard to a diner to eat.
raven
Planning?? We’re in full bloom here, cherry trees, bradford pear, azaleas and tulip magnolias are all rocking. This brings the question of how they keep things from doing so over at Augusta? I won tickets to the Monday practice round so the princess and I are going over for the first time. The bonus of the practice round is that I can take my camera!
I love that brick walkway, I finished mine yesterday but it’s not nearly as nice.
opiejeanne
Marvel, your garden is awesome, as usual.
We are a bit north of you and the soil in our raised beds isn’t warm enough yet, not even for peas. I’m thinking of warming up the beds by tenting them and starting almost everything in the greenhouse to transplant.
Over the winter we covered some of the beds with sections of blue tarp to keep the weeds down and it worked pretty well in those beds. The others clean up pretty quickly, but I’d rather be able to just go with planting when the temps are right.
Our parsley overwintered, much to my surprise as did the artichoke. I mounded mulch around it for the winter and it’s been sprouting new leaves for a couple of weeks.
I would share pictures but right now the fruit trees are still bare and most of the beds are either empty or a bit weedy so the place looks a bit dismal. Cherry trees, apples, and pears look ready to bloom any second, but I think it will be another week before they get going.
We have never gardened in such a wet climate before and only just realized (after six years) that our soil is very nitrogen-deficient because of all of the rain, so we need to feed a lot more often than in the dry climate we were used to. I feel a bit stupid that we didn’t catch on sooner.
opiejeanne
@JPL: We have onions, garlic, and chives that are looking good, although a lot of the chives are escapees that are coming up in the gravel outside the raised beds. I spotted a beet today that was missed when we were picking the last of them. I think it must have been nearly a seedling last fall.
MomSense
Marvel, your gardens are impressive. I’m currently looking out at frozen mud.
OzarkHillbilly
My magnolia bloomed this week, surprised me. The daffodils are up and started blooming too, but they are on schedule. My cherries, peaches and apples have weeks to go. News flash: Chickens don’t like purple crocuses but think yellow crocuses are to die for.
I’m still gimping around but am able to do things in the garden despite it. Mainly just working on cleaning out the beds when the sun shines, which hasn’t been very often the last couple weeks. Most of the seeds I started are up and growing. Had some fails and restarted them and they are all fine. All my tomatillos came up and then died when I missed a watering. Trying to decide if that is me subconsciously saying “Enough already!”
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ?
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: I’m replacing hinges on my exterior doors. On one of the doors, the location of the holes in the old hinge, is not standard, but close to the hole of the new ones. If I use a longer screw, will that help secure the new hinge?
I’m pleased to hear that you are mending.
Raven
@JPL: fill the screw hole with a toothpicks covered in wood glue and let it sit. Break off the extended part, drill a small pilot hole and screw it back in.
Raven
No likey
JPL
@Raven: Thanks.
JPL
@Raven: That looks pretty good. Nice job!
Raven
@JPL: oh, you could see it. I loaded goggle photos and tried the Lin function but it was not a “blind” url so I deleted it.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: What Raven said.
JPL
@Raven: haha.. Yes I could see it. I just saw one photo though.
TheMightyTrowel
We’re at what we think it’s the tail end of a record-breaking heatwave down in oz. It’s been over 33C everyday for nearly a month, and I definitely do not live in either the desert or the tropical north. The tomatoes ate living it though. They’re just astounding this year. This weekend i cooked up a big pot of ratatouille with the 2nd run of eggplants, the last of the zucchini and lots of herbs from the garden. YUMS!
Iowa Old Lady
That garden is gorgeous even in its spring rawness. My spring contribution was sweeping the winter debris out of the garage.
@PurpleGirl: I hope your waterless state doesn’t last too long, Purple Girl. It’s hard to live in a place without water.
Baud
Spring seems to have come earlier this year. I’m not ready for the weeds.
I hate losing an hour.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: No worries, you’ll get it back in the fall.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: With interest, I hope.
TheMightyTrowel
@Baud: do i take this to mean that an end to daylight saving time is a key plank in the Baud2016 platform? Concur!
Baud
@TheMightyTrowel: I’m definitely getting rid of spring forward. Still considering whether to also get rid of fall back.
TheMightyTrowel
@Baud: i like this idea. It means that eventually my east coat us family will be in the same time zone as me!
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I have a favorite tree in my neighborhood, a huge magnolia. Yesterday I noticed the southern side of it had begun blooming. I checked my photos from last year and the tree was in full bloom on April 19th. I figure spring’s a good 3 weeks early this year. At this rate, we’ll have autumn in July.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Was listening to a local NPR program the other day and the guest was saying that he measures (IIRC- I was only catching bits and pieces) “growing days” by temps above 50 degrees and that by his count, we are running 4 weeks ahead. I think it is actually less than that, but we are definitely ahead of schedule.
Baud
@TheMightyTrowel:
One America, One Time.
Currants
@JPL: If your other greens survived maybe try a different variety next year? My black/lacinato/Tuscan kale never makes it through the winter, but curly green kale usually does (I have some out there now), and I’ve had a Russian red that does too.
Ultraviolet Thunder
Our hour of walkies yesterday was eerily serene. Completely quiet in the neighborhood at 3:00 pm. I remarked on this to my wife and she pointed out that there was only one leaf blower in the area. Usually on a Saturday there would be the constant drone of engines from lawn maintenance in all directions. That was disappointing. We could have a calm and quiet environment around us but we choose noise pollution to get our yards done quicker.
Currants
@opiejeanne: have you ever tried using any green manure over the winter? There are likely some legumes you could use that would add organic matter and nitrogen (Google “green manure” and your favorite seed catalog). Mine die back (I used oats field peas and buckwheat) but if you don’t get hard freezes you can just till them back in (or chop them down and re-plant using a no-till method.)
satby
I was able to take the old leaf debris out of a couple of small flower beds, but that’s about it. The daffodils are just getting flower buds and look to be at least another week before the earliest bloom. First year in 8 I haven’t started seeds, feels weird to know I’m leaving here this summer. Since it’s raining today it will be a day of inside chores.
WereBear
We are running in the 50’s during the day but I don’t trust it. We could still have a dump of snow.
Hope the maple sugaring will be getting the conditions they need. New York State is running maple weekends coming up!
If you’ve never had the real thing, you owe it to yourself. And I say this from lumberjack country.
debbie
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Leaf blowers are more annoying even than cicadas, especially when people use them earlier than they’re supposed to (7am according to city ordinance). There’s a super across the street who uses a leaf blower to blow away trace amounts of snow.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@debbie:
I’m particularly sensitive to harsh noises so powered lawn equipment is a painful problem for me. All of our own equipment is electric and relatively quiet. I keep earplugs with me at all times, but it’s disappointing to have to block my hearing to endure taking a walk in the neighborhood.
Most of the houses in our area use lawn services because they can afford to. These crews will have a mower, line trimmer and one or more blowers going all at once. The racket is deafening.
WereBear
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I am familiar with the lawn fixation from living on Long Island. All this money and effort and screaming and chemicals…
And they don’t even walk on it.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
I’ll bet it is, though. Are you going to show us pictures of your handiwork?
JPL
@Currants: The year before, I enjoyed curly kale and arugula salad all winter. I think that I planted the tuscan.. big fail.
satby
@WereBear: I only buy the real thing, once you taste real maple syrup you can’t go back. And I use the B grade for cooking, stronger flavor that holds up in baked goods.
Eric S.
It’s far too early to consider seeing up the deck garden in Chicago. We certainly could have a freeze or two yet although hopefully not.
The birds are returning though. I saw the make sparrow that nests around the corner of the building. He was on the deck railing Friday morning and Ozzie the Cat was all excited and chattering. I haven’t seen him but I hear what I believe to be a cardinal as well.
Ben Cisco
Feeling a little better today. Weather here in the Queen City has been great. While stuck in bed yesterday, I decided to start trying to blog again. Just got some thoughts down on what I’m going through. It’s strange, but I felt like crap while I was doing it, but better afterwards.
Ultraviolet Thunder
My dad has officially declared it Spring in central MI. He spotted a pair of redwinged blackbirds Saturday and for him that’s a definitive sign. As a lifelong Great Lakes sport fisherman he’s extremely attentive to climate and weather and has an excellent record with his predictions. OTOH he’s concerned for his daffs that are already sprouting. There’s a good chance that they’ll get clobbered by a frost.
OzarkHillbilly
Had a rather surreal hour or 2 yesterday. Ran into town to pick up my blood thinners. On the way back I saw a stranger working a cell phone (cell signals are iffy at best out here) in a my “neighbor’s” drive. Just took note of the “out of place”-ness of it. When I rounded the next curve I saw a car at the gate of the land next to mine. Door was open and it was raining lightly, and I thought, “he’s broke down and trying to call somebody.” So I turned around at my drive and went back ’cause we have a land line and thinking if his phone’s not working, ours will.
So I pull up next to him and make the offer and he say’s, no, not necessary, and I say, OK but if you need anything just come on down to our place. He replies, “Could I get a drink of water?”
“Sure,” says I, “get on in.”
He does.
And then he just has a complete melt down, sobbing uncontrollably, heaving, tears, etc etc
And all I can think is, “Oh, fuck.” because even under the best of circumstances, I am the last person you want in such a situation, and obviously this was not the best of circumstances.
to be cont. needs coffee
satby
I’ve been down in the dumps about stuff (being sick probably didn’t help). I can’t wait for flowers to start blooming, just the days getting longer makes me feel a bit better. Though it’s not seasonal affective depression, it’s probably just cabin fever and all the life changes. But sunshine improves everything.
rikyrah
Proud of Obama’s Presidency, Blacks Are Sad to See Him Go
By YAMICHE ALCINDOR
MARCH 12, 2016
CHICAGO — In his 30s and 40s, the Rev. C.T. Vivian rode with the Freedom Riders, organized sit-ins in Nashville and worked closely with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Many years later, before the 2008 election, he traveled the country along with other civil rights leaders exclaiming to voters that a Barack Obama presidency was exactly the kind of prize that they had been fighting for all their lives.
All of that came back to him during a meeting at the White House three weeks ago between President Obama and several of those leaders. Mr. Vivian told the president how proud he was of him, and how sad he was to see him go.
And then he began to cry.
“If there was a way I could keep him there I would keep him there for another term,” Mr. Vivian, 91, said later from his home in Atlanta. “It is difficult for people who are not African-American to understand what it has been to have someone in the White House that you know understands you.”
satby
@Ben Cisco: Good for you! I really admire how you keep plugging away Ben.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: Well here it is after the rain. I know that there are ways to do it other than with the 1×4 border but the boss lady doesn’t mind so I’ll go with it.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Sounds like my situation with the just returned from Afghanistan jar head who was bordering on threatening behavior with a group gathered at the eatery down the street. There was no one else there remotely able to defuse the situation.
Currants
@JPL: Well, I LIKE Tuscan kale better for some things, but it’s just not as hardy so I try to get another kind in too. I have arugula self seeding all over the place but winters are a little too harsh for it to not die off. Even this winter which was incredibly mild, generally.
Davebo
Austin is a mess this week but I’m tempted to see the Louis Meyers Tribute at Threadgills. I’ve actually got a certificate for a free night at the Embassy Suites right across the street but I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with SXSW madness.
O. Felix Culpa
@satby: Yesterday I bought bunches of cheap daffodils from Trader Joe’s and filled the house with them. Cheers the place up mightily.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Thanks! I think it looks great — love the range of colours in the bricks. And the Bohdi seems to approve.
O. Felix Culpa
@raven: Very nice! The dog appears to approve of your handiwork too.
Gvg
@rikyrah: of course we don’t get that, but you should note a lot of whites are really sorry he can’t have a third term. Such a sane man, so calm amoung the idiots. He has been a lifesaver. Nervous about what comes after.
SiubhanDuinne
@OzarkHillbilly:
How’s that coffee coming along? I’m panting to read the next instalment, and hoping that whatever was going on, there was (or will be) a good outcome for the guy.
SiubhanDuinne
@O. Felix Culpa:
GMTA?
O. Felix Culpa
@SiubhanDuinne: Indeed! :-)
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: Real maple syrup is wasted on me.
So to cont.
I stop at his car to close the door, noticing that the driver side window is broken and he has great big black circles on the side of the car- a sure sign of a run in with a dump truck or semi- and think, “So that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
No. That was the least of it. Between the tears and heaves and etc, I got more of the story out of him.
He has a truck buried in the mud down on Indian Creek where he, his brother and a friend had gone 4 wheeling the night before. He’d been trying to get a hold of his brother but there was no answer. Alarm bells started going off in my head. There are couple 4wd parks out here but none on Indian Creek. I asked him where it was and when he told me a claxon began blaring. Something was not adding up. What happened to brother?
Still tho, I have been there, stuck in the mud miles from civilization and alone. It is not a good feeling. One always helps in such a situation because… well just because. So I loaded up the truck with chains and pull straps, come-alongs and shovels, and we headed down to Indian Creek. As we drove I got more of the story out of him. Separated from his wife and kids, every one he knows, including his brother is fvcking his soon to be ex, all his real friends are either dead or in prison, the wife is holding the kids over his head, his dog just died, he’s been trying to dig his truck out by himself all night and it just keeps sinking into the mud….
“My life could be a country song.” he sums up.
Eventually we come to a muddy track and he says, “Turn here.”
I stop. I know this place. “You know the land owner?”
“My brother said they had permission, but when my truck got stuck and we couldn’t get it out he and his buddy started getting kind of hinky and took off.”
Uh huh.
But I can’t leave a man in such a situation w/o at least trying so I drove on in, hoping I wasn’t about to get shot for trespassing. It was nasty. We’ve had one day of sunshine the past 2 weeks and about 2 inches of rain with mist the rest of the time. Before long I was in 4 low and the truck was slipping and siding this way and that and now I’m wondering if I’m going to get out. Finally I see the front end of a truck sticking out of the brush and stop. We get out and walk up to it.
No fvcking way. He is down to the frame with all 4 wheels sunk in the mud. If the weather had been perfect with good solid footing it would take all day to dig and winch him out. In that muck? In 5 mins. I’d be just as fvcked too. I told him as much. He didn’t say anything, just walked around it looking at the mess that was the all too apt metaphor for what his life had become.
Finally he kind of straightened up and said, “Well, they can have it.” and walked away from $5-6,000 worth of truck. We got back into my truck and we drove out of there. Had a few anxious moments but nothing serious. As we drove back to my house we talked (“You need some better friends.”) and it became obvious that he had reached a point of acceptance that some things he just had to let go of and had resolved to do so. I was just happy he wasn’t talking about death anymore.
I was unloading my truck and asked, “So what are you going to do now?”
“I don’t know. My car is almost out of gas. I have money but no gas.”
So I put a couple gallons in his car (no, I didn’t take any money) and he left. As he left he stuck his head out and I said, “Take care of yourself, Jason.” and he said, “Thanks for everything.” Who knows how he is now, but he had a smile on his face.
As I was wrapping up dinner preparations (thank you TaMara, chicken primevera, mmmm,mmmm,mmmmm!), I remembered my Xare!t0. Where did I leave it? Oh fvck… please dear Jeebus, please no… ran outside and started going thru the truck looking for my rat poison and…. I can’t find it… Oh fvck no No NO NONONONOOOOOO…. There they are. Scared the sh!t out of me thinking maybe he had snatched them looking for a cheap high and not knowing it was rat poison find a one way ticket to nirvana.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: Wow.. I hope the person can get back on track.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: looks good to me.
OzarkHillbilly
@SiubhanDuinne: Sorry it took so long, had to make coffee for the wife too. That and I’m a slow typer.
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: You are right. He does need better friends.
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: It was a rather obvious observation to make.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: You’ve gone from mud to frozen mud. Not a lot to celebrate there!
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Dealing with a PTSD ridden sniper was easier!
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: The bricks are actually concrete.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I was way over my head.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
We all are.
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
No, you were exactly what he needed, a kind person with an objective look at where he was. There was a reason he was smiling when he left, just because you were what he needed, a dose of real friendship, nothing else at stake.
Sounds like he would need a bulldozer or backhoe to get out. And if he has few resources, it well may be better to just let it go.
Thank you for reaching out with a helping hand!
OzarkHillbilly
@J R in WV: i can think of a thousand people who would be better. Empathy is not my strong point. I have a tendency to be blunt, and seeing as I am incapable of diplomacy in some situations I just shut up. Maybe all he needed was someone to listen and was just lucky in finding a guy who is incapable of much else.
J R in WV
Regarding spring, it is here in West Virginia.
It’s going to be in the 70s, near 80, all week. And Mrs J is getting her right knee replaced Tuesday if all goes well. Surgeon (who did both my shoulders last year) said “You have done a remarkable job of adaptation to continue walking with that joint!”
We don’t vegetable garden now, the deer are too greedy, and I would need to build an 8+ foot high fence to protect the veggies. But we do have a hundred yards of driveway bank with daffodils planted, and they’re all started up with silly yellow flowers. Some are “double-daffofils” with twice the bloom stuffed into the single space of the flower, all ruffles and such.
Out west in the spring, they sell daffodils from WA and OR that have a wonderful scent, very aromatic, sweet and yellow smelling. The local heritage daffydills are unscented, but will bloom right through a spring blizzard, which we may yet have… the dreaded April Snow.
The moss is greened up, and the hardy native ferns are holding up, nothing really bothers them.
The other night it was very quiet and still, and around 11 I went outside after letting the dawg in. I walked a few feet from the house, and heard one of the Barred Owls who live up in the big trees on the ridges. They have been here as long as we have lived here, so almost 40 years that I know of. Big owls, capable of taking a chicken right out of the cedar tree late at night. Nothing left but a trail of feathers as a sign of what happened.
They have a very defined hoot that they use to reach out to one another, like this amazing short video;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fppKGJD3Y6c
but once they have established a link, and often there are several connecting up, they just hoot wildly and variously, for quite a while, in the dusk. A real Hootenany, with owls!
Here’s what THAT sounds like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzhSxhhAYbE
I can hoot with them, and they will think a moment, and they answer back, they know I’m not an owl, but they’re willing to say hi anyway. So the other night, I hooted, and waited, and in just a few seconds, the other guy answered me back, and we gently hooted back and forth, until I went back inside, and the owl went on to real owl stuff. They’ll be here all summer, and next winter, as long as I will. My favorite birds, so inscrutable. So wise. So good at what they do.
It’s so amazing to hear those sounds right here at home….. like a deep jungle, but up on a ridge, in the scraps of old forest in places you can’t get a skidder or other heavy machine to drag the forest giants out of the woods.
Marvel
@Currants: @Currants: (Re watering our raised beds) We’ve installed hard rubber irrigation lines to each bed (each fed under the bed’s wall through a small plumbing elbow) — near the beds, the lines have simple twist-valves that control water flow (off/some/more). Inside each bed, we attach removable drip- or soaker-hoses or small-bore sprinklers to the irrigation lines (depending on what’s being grown). At the faucet end, we just use a diverter (that feeds the single irrigtion befoe it branches off to the beds) and manual timer. Works OK.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: Yeah, but you are the one who helped out. I would have bailed at any one of several points along the way when things started to look hinky.
Oldgold
“Zachary Taylor, who attended Dolley Madison’s funeral in 1849 and gave us the term “first lady” in his eulogy — or so the story goes; there’s no written evidence of it. Madison is an American icon.
Dolley Madison remains belle of the first lady ball. Who wouldn’t have gone to her funeral? No one!
Dolley Madison fell ill in July 1849. She lingered for five days, and died on Thursday evening, July 12. She was 81 years old and had known every president from George Washington to Zachary Taylor. Her funeral oration on July 17 was a state occasion, attended by the president, cabinet officers, diplomatic corps, members of the House and Senate, Supreme Court justices, officers of the army and navy, the mayor and city leaders, and “citizens and strangers.” As the Washington newspaper, The Daily Intelligencer, noted: “All of our country and thousands in other lands will need no language of Eulogy to inspire a deep and sincere regret when they learn the demise of one who touched all hearts by her goodness and won the admiration of all by the charms of dignity and grace.”
Currants
@J R in WV: that’s wonderful! (The ‘who-cooks-for-you’ owls). My granddaughter loves listening to them (I have a Petersons CD)–she gets this very intent, focused look on her face when listening to the bird songs, and the owls might be her favorite. Out here I’ve heard barred, great horned (most common) and screech owls pretty regularly, and it never fails to make me smile.
ruemara
@OzarkHillbilly: You did an amazing thing. Thanks.
Oldgold
Sorry, posted on wrong thread.
PurpleGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: Whatever you say about yourself, he needed to talk and he needed help with his truck and/or getting gas for the car. You listened to him, told him something truthful and helped with car. He got what he needed. You done good, real good.
opiejeanne
@Currants: I have considered green manure and just haven’t done it. This would be in the raised beds when they are emptied in late fall. I know that legumes enrich the soil. Right now we are putting down alfalfa pellets and watching the rain break it down. A couple of older gardeners (we’re 66 and 69 now, ha!) have told us they make a soup of the pellets in a bucket and then pour it out in their gardens.
And we bought a bale of alfalfa hay for the potato bed and we’ll see just how much of a failure I am as an Irish woman, because currently I am merely a minor disgrace.
currants
@opiejeanne: *grin* you made me laugh. I tried growing potatoes last year, and got all of about 2 pounds from an entire raised bed (4×8). My brother grows hundreds of pounds, but I don’t have his kind of space.
It’s late on this thread, but does anyone know of a good place to get a simple garden gate? Mine has finally completely given up the ghost (it was a makeshift thing but was perfectly functional for 7 years). I don’t really want to bother making one, but I suppose I could if I had to (so links to plans would work, I guess).
The Gray Adder
Did some digging today. Found half a dozen potatoes from last year. Mmmmmmmm…fresh potatoes!