4.11.10

I did a BUNCH of different stuff today. My goals included getting more done on the newly paved path, digging out more of the mint from the strawberry bed, weeding the driveway bed and reseeding some things that didn't take off, seeding the rest of the 'mater beds, and whatever else I could work in. In roughly chronological order...

I needed to kidnap some of the trashcans from the trashcan bed in the backyard for the blackberries. As I did so, this cute little guy popped out of one of them. Cute little buggar!

I was working in the front yard when my neighbor, Larry, drove by. I had promised him the top soil we dug up to lay the path, and he brought his truck so he could load it up. I helped him shovel it into the bed, and then gave him a quick tour of the garden. When I did, I saw my VERY FIRST artichoke!! OMG! I though they were supposed to come up on long, leggy stalks, but this one is buried deep in the foliage of the giant thistle. I'll give it a few more days and then cut it. Can't wait to eat it!!!

This rose was about as big across as my hand. We had a misty rain all day long. The kind that really just hangs in the air - doesn't so much fall as float. Gorgeous, and smelling of cloves!

More on another bush. Likely to open tomorrow.

This is a little hard to see. I had been playing around with the placement of the trashcans to hold the blackberries and the posts for the trellis wire. There are 3 small trashcans (one left, right, and center) and one bigger one lined up at the back of the new path. I wasn't sure what I was going to put the posts in, so I pulled the cans out and started playing. Originally, I thought I would plant the b.berries in the smaller cans, but even with all 4 of them in place, it didn't have the impact I was hoping for. So I decided to plant them in the bigger cans, which freed up the smaller ones for the posts! BINGO! While the cans were in place, I eyeballed the strip of pavers where I could begin sweeping sand into the crevices. I only wanted to do it for the stones that would be under the cans, as the rest of them will get a mix of sand and soil to support some ground cover plants.

At some point I managed to get the sand swept in. It sort of makes the pavers disappear, but that won't last long. It'll settle in and the pavers will shine!!

After sweeping the sand in, I took a tour of the garden and got some things planted. This is the bud forming at the top of an onion leaf (?). I haven't grown onions before, so I'm curious what this is going to look like, open.






I ate a bunch of chard last week at some point. Really made a dent in this plant. Went out of town for a few days. Came back to 2 FEET of growth, and bolted chard! It's still delicious, so I just lopped off the flowers and will keep on eating it.






My strawberries are quite prolific this year! That's good, 'cause last year they were very stingy. I almost pulled them out altogether. In fact, were it not for the tangle of mint that I was dreading wrestling with, I WOULD have pulled the strawberries out. So the mint was a blessing in disguise!

Here's a better idea of what the line up of b.berry cans and support, etc, is going to look like. The small cans that hold the posts will double as bottle trees! They'll also be used as planters, and will hold mint. Two types per can. It'll be off the ground, so it should be easier to deal with. For a while...

If your imagination is failing you, here is my best effort at rendering it with MS Paint and the photo above. See how the smaller cans hold the posts and mint? And how the posts hold trellis wire and bottles - blue wine bottles from my favorite Reisling? And see the purple dots, eh, blackberries all over the leafy blackberry vines? I know you're jealous of my mad Paint skills. Don't be hatin'.

After seeding the 'mater beds, I weeded the driveway bed and checked on the seedlings planted there. This zucchini is doing quite well.

As is the yellow summer squash...

And the sugar snap peas. I couldn't pull out all of that clover, or I would have damaged my pea shoots. In the next day or so, they'll finally reach the bottom slat of the blue fence and will grab hold and climb up. Once that happens, I'll plant some more. The new seedlings will use the older ones as a trellis.

Would you believe that this is the bed that was previously choked with mint? I got the remaining 2/3 of the mint out. The tall, bushy plant in the bottom right corner is a cilantro. It never grows for me where I plant it, so I left this one there since it's so happy. I learned my lesson and worked hard to leave the strawberries in place and relatively undisturbed. I'm sure they're a little worse for the wear, but I think they'll have less shock and lose fewer fruits this way. Those little weird thread-lookin' things in the freshly cleaned squares are red onion starts. Onions and strawberries are supposed to grow together really well.

The last thing I did was weed this strip of soil on my side of the driveway. I didn't take a "before" pic, but it was absolutely choked up with weeds and mints. No more mint in the ground!! Containers ONLY!! I didn't get every bit of root up, but I'll work on it more as I plant it out.

And I guess that be that. All in all, it was a VERY successful day! Can't wait to finish the blackberry area!!