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 Planting greens so close to
our trailer has seemed to work at making them an unsafe choice for
local deer passing through our yard.  I was gone Friday
through Sunday at a writing retreat, and the garden exploded both
inside and out while I was away.  Ripening...  Heading...  Flowering...  Which means it's time to
leave the keyboard, weed, and transplant!  The Sika
foam seems adequate after doing a few test holes.   As painful as it is, year one in
a new garden is all about long-term thinking. So when both the
raspberries and the blueberries that we set out this spring developed
flower buds...I pinched them off.The idea is that a new perennial is better off spending its limited energy on roots and leaves rather than on fruits. So no berries from that patch until next year. The everbearing raspberries we planted last fall, in contrast, have enjoyed a bit more time to get their feet under them. So when they bloom --- probably for the fall crop --- we'll gladly let those flowers grow. Meanwhile last fall's strawberries are already ripening. In the new few days, I expect to pick our first Ohio-grown fruit!  Walden,
the new game I blogged about last year is now on the Sony
Playstation 4.  Anna: I've been putting
wood chips in the garden aisles and I'm running through the
pile fast. By this time next week, we're going to have to hunt down
more biomass!  Our second day of operating
the two person post hole digger went a lot better.  During a recent trip to
Mark's mom's house (which we still call "going to Ohio"...even though
we now live in Ohio), I stumbled across a couple of innovative
solutions for garden infrastructure that I thought you might enjoy.
First, the no-brainer --- an old stock tank with holes in the bottom
filled with compost to create an herb planter. Pretty and functional!  Next, I snuck over into her neighbor's yard to snap a shot of this interesting pallet mulch/pathway solution. I'll be curious to see how this does in a month or two --- I have a gut feeling it's going to be one of those solutions that looks better on paper than it works in reality. How do I know? I've tried dozens of those solutions myself!  We rented this two person
post hole auger to dig our garden fence post holes.  If you're ever in need
of a visual feast, I highly recommend dropping by Ohio University's
Learning Garden on West State Street. The soil is rich and well
watered, the beds perfectly weeded, and even cover crops can be sighted
amid the strawberries and leafy greens.  You can also buy produce
here dirt cheap --- Mark brought home a huge bag of various mustards
for a buck...which included a fifty-cent tip. I hear strawberries will
be ripe in the very near future.  I have to admit I was
too engrossed in the beautiful colors and patterns to make useful
observations for the most part. I did note, however, how much happier
their broccoli are than mine. I was hoping that the current scraggly
showing was due to the weirdness of the spring this year, but it sounds
like it's due to the other variable changed between last spring and
this one --- handwatering instead of mechanized irrigation. After the
fence will come steady water! Didn't check back soon
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