Getting the Garden Started
Wow! This year, we are still having cold weather. It has been a booger getting the beds ready for this year between freezing temps and heavy rains. We have been working on it every day we can and when the beds are not soaking.
We finally get the strawberry beds done with the strawberry starts planted. There is 9 plants per bed, 27 plants all together. This year I got some azomite to add to the beds for their minerals. I read a lot of good articles about how excellent adding minerals to the soil does for the plants and their nutrition levels. The starts are always so sad when you get them. I wonder how those could grow, looking the way they do. They always surprise me.
When we started “fluffing” the soil to add various amendments, we got a shovel-full of grubs. I will not repeat the words I used here. They were very salty. See the can to the right? That is ONLY 1/2 of a 12′ long garden bed!!! We had to lift the soil into the 1/4″ square screen sifter to pick them out, all 3 beds. We added water to the can, let it sit overnight and dumped them out on a slope. The birds came in and feasted. At least the grubs were useful.
The beneficial nematodes will be here tomorrow. It will take yearly application for another year or two to wipe out the bugs from coming back. Having a meadow, this sort of thing can occur. The potato beds had none until the one closest to the driveway. It was filled with teeny-weeny ones that would fall through the screen. I hand-dug the beds while hand-sifting the soil. It took all morning yesterday to clean that one bed out.
Though the beneficial nematodes are coming, we wanted to at least knock the grub population down to a dull roar. The potato beds and the spare bed next to them are now ready. I will be getting the potatoes ready for planting tomorrow. The extra bed will have a spaghetti squash, lined with leeks around the edge.
I also got the 2 beds ready for the tomatoes in the kitchen garden area and one for a buttercup squash. All of the starts I picked up needed to go in a week or two ago! I am making mini-greenhouses around the beds to keep them warmer until spring actually starts. If my idea works well, I’ll post photos. I am doing something using what I can cobble together on hand. We’ll see how clever I can be. (smiling)
May 11th, one tulip opened. This is the following day. A bit of beauty for you all. We only have 5 tulips left. This fall, I will get a few more and some daffodils, I think. We’ll see. You all have a great day and good luck with your gardens this year! May they be abundant and bountiful!
Mom's Enchiladas - Crockpot Recipe
The Garden - End of May
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