You can't hoe mud, you know. The weeds flourished. They completely took over. It was the worst I've ever seen and it broke my heart. "I am too old for this," I kept thinking. So much effort (and food) was wasted. Not. Good.
So... I decided to go to a permanent mulch system, like Ruth Stout described in her wonderful books. I also cut the area I am planting in half and gave half of that half to my Garden Fairy to use, so I am only gardening in 1/4th the area I have had for the last several years. I've covered it all with lots of hay and will continue to add mulch as I can get it. I am hoping for some wood chips at some point.
This spring has been very wet and the garden is still soggy... I don't really expect to have a stellar year this year, but I will fool around out there and try my best to grow some food. Well, I already have food... we've eaten Nappa cabbage, chives, basil, parsley, asparagus and radishes. The thornless red raspberries are looking promising. The tomatoes nearly died, but are coming back. Some of the peppers died and my GF replanted for me. The corn is up. Some of the winter and summer squashes are up. I have a few carrots up and looking very happy. There is lots of volunteer garlic!
See this? It is some volunteer mullein in my small herb patch. When mullein is well fed and has plenty of sunlight, it can get quite spectacular! The leaves are good for dyeing wool, and the blossoms have medicinal properties.
A closer look at the mullein flower stalk.
Rhubarb
Comfrey patch
Red raspberries
"Herb Patch"
Pole bean teepees
Potato patch
The corn is emerging!
In the middle, here, you can see my Egyptian onions
And here is a close up of the little bulb-lets they make
I discovered something new today. If you like the taste of onions (I do if they are not too strong) you can pick these little bulb-lets and...
... bite carefully and the insides will come out and you can eat it! Right there in the garden. It was a delightful treat!
A pretty cabbage!
Tomato cages. The tomato plants are barely hanging on.
View across part of our garden plots.
Volunteer garlic where the trellis fence used to be
Cucumbers
Sugar Snap Peas
Baby carrots!
Pepper plants that my GF put in for me. :)
Some very happy dandelion growing with the comfrey. I will use this to make noodles.
See that feathery stuff over there? That is the asparagus. My GF and I dug that up near a railroad track 2 years ago and transplanted it into our garden.
So... that is where we are today. I replanted some things this morning - more carrots, sugar pie pumpkins, winter squash, pole beans, and some green bush beans. I will report back as time goes on.
I used the Ruth Stout method when we lived in Oklahoma and had easy and free access to tons of spoiled straw. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteI see you are growing mullein and comfrey and such. I plan to put in a medicinal garden. Right now I have to get my herbs dried from my Amish friend. I made salves, tinctures, oils, lotions and so on. I just put in a large order yesterday for dried herbs to make more medicines and teas. Mullein is great for lung problems. I ordered some and will be making a tincture and tea with it for my husband who suffers from weak lungs.
Thank you for sharing your garden pix. Its been raining here like crazy too and I cant seem to grow cucumbers or squash. Maybe that is why.
Debbie O
How nice to hear from you! I'm glad to hear, also, that you had success with the Stout method.. Can you please tell me more about the Mullein - how to use it? I did not realize you are into herbal medicine. I have done some of that but would like to learn more - particularly about herbs that I can grow or forage locally.
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