Finding time for flowers
Mark looked at me like I
was nutty when I told him our core homestead felt smaller this
year. "You do realize we expanded the boundaries in a couple of
places, don't you?" he asked. Well, yes, I do know that our core
homestead is actually bigger in a spatial sense, but we
seem to be starting to hit the fewer-weeds plateau that established
gardens eventually acquire, which gives me tidbits of time for play
even during the height of planting season.
This week's play has
consisted of planting two beds of flowers, something I never seem to
find time for in the spring, but always regret when summer rolls around
flower-free. One bed is an area I kill-mulched in front of our
south-facing bank of windows last fall. I added a trellis and Dani's mystery
beans in the back of
the bed, then set out some seedling sunflowers, zinnias, and marigolds
that I'd started inside a couple of weeks ago. I hope the result
will be a shady trailer interior this summer, along with a pretty view
when we eat on the porch.
The other bed is
similar, but minus the beans and located in the forest garden.
That spot is really for the bees since there's no often-used human zone
nearby.
Of course, most of my
garden time has been spent on more worthwhile pursuits, such as weeding
and planting. Even though we could have a frost anytime during
the next two weeks, the 10-day forecast looks freeze-free, so I put in
green beans, mung beans, sweet corn, cucumbers, crookneck squash,
watermelons, okra, and basil seeds last Friday. After a weekend
of heavy rain, I expect to see sprouts any day now and am hoping our
late spring won't mean a late summer after all. If the weather
decides to be tricky and slam us with a late frost, I can just replant
--- it's worth risking a couple of dollars' worth of seeds for the
chance of early harvests.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Hi Anna and Mark, I don't know if you'd consider doing this (I know it is a little invasive), but I've been reading your blog for years and would be so curious to see some more shots (a tour of sorts) of your guys' trailer. It seems like it's really cozy and and I'd be curious to know how you guys fixed it up.