On 29/04/2014 11:49 PM, songbird wrote:
yesterday i finished up removing one of the
chive patches that was taking up too much space
at the bottom of the north garden. the smell
of the roots and dirt make me rather sick to my
stomach so i was very glad to be done.

:-)) IMO, you can never have too many chives. I use them so often in
the kitchen.

most of the clumps of roots were buried upside
down under a layer of dried stuff or whatever
paper scraps i had on hand and then six to eight
inches of dirt. they will likely never be able
to come up through that and the worms will turn
them into fertilizer in time. yesterday a few
piles ran out of dried stuff to use so i may see
some of those again this season. probably will
plant extra beans/peas on top of them because it
is in an unfenced garden.

Members of the allium family are reputed to stunt peas and beans so it'd
be interesting to know if that same reputed impact applies to planting
on top of interred alliums.

still it is now a lot less cover for the bunnies
to hide in along that edge with the chives gone.
it is rather low there now too and since i was
trying to get a low garden going with some creeping
plants that like moisture and eventually i'm sure
strawberries will get in there too. a layer of
shredded bark would be nice there but i have to
get a decent edge in place to keep it from washing
into the neighboring crushed limestone. don't
want to raise the whole area up too far as i sure
don't want yet another retaining wall or more
formal edge. that neighboring crushed limestone
and flat flood plain may eventually get turned
into more gardens as i can find the fill for it and
if Ma will let me get away with it. the
neighboring fake pond is falling apart and we're
going to do something with it this year or next.
hmm, too much to ponder and too many other projects
in the works for me, but i better be sure to get
a say in what happens next as if i don't then it
more likely than not will mean more work for me
later...

some of the earlier plantings have sprouted and
seem to be doing fine (peas, onions, turnips,
rutabagas). these too are in the unfenced garden
so they may get raided by bunnies at any time.

the other project finished up the other day was
getting the back spiral garden/green manure patch
weeded and to dig out all of the garlic in there
that i could find. it is much easier to do this
before the alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil gets
tall. this also gave me a good chance to observe
the quality of the soil and to see how the late
summer cover crops of buckwheat and turnips had
fared. considering the condition of the soil
when i started several years ago it is coming
along well.

:-)) Isn't it a great joy to notice those sorts of improvements?
Non-gardeners never seem to understand why that gives gardeners such a
thrill.


i'm now going to be adding a mix of
other plants into that patch in areas so that it
can start being an alternate and back up food
source. turnips, beets, beans, peas, fennel,
bak choi, rutabagas, ...,

I've forgotten what the rest of the English speaking world calls them.
Is it turnips??????

and some other things
i can find today (rainy day errand run).

now that these two projects are done i can
switch to the fenced gardens and getting them
weeded or turned -- getting them ready for
planting and seeing how they are faring. most
of them have a light cover crop of winter wheat
or winter rye and will not need to worry too
much about the impact of that rotting down.
one garden has a much higher crop of wheat and
rye and i'm tempted to leave that alone and see
if i can get any kind of harvest from them but
i suspect the goldfinches will beat me to it.
the finches have a pretty good eye for any seed
bearing plants. then again, if the field to
the north of us does not get turned under we'll
have winter wheat galore for them over there...
hmm...

late last summer i also planted turnips in the
north patch to see how they went. some did get
fairly large and i gave them to someone who likes
them and appreciates them, the rest i left to see
how they survived the winter without being
covered or mulched in any way other than what was
provided by the snow. many did survive. i pulled
some the other day to see if they were edible. no.
so they are now worm food for the worm bins here
in my room. the rest are out there growing and
are going to hopefully be a source of seeds for
future generations. yet, it is pretty likely i'll
get a lb of turnip seeds today as they are a nice
cover crop for bare spots and they aren't too
expensive.

the killdeer are out there running around in
tribes (mating season i suspect). funny...

I think I'll go and have a rest after reading of all your busyness.
You've made me feel quite weary :-))