Things are progressing, and the garden is still coming along one piece at a time. I've become some sort of careful gardener. Seed planting depth, the location of the barrel planters, the checking moisture of soil with digging fingers ...these, and others, are all details I find myself thinking about more than ever.
Squash
Last night I made a squash trellis from more of the bamboo I was given. Tonight I planted squash - Table King Acorn and Waltham Butternut. So far all of my garden seeds have been free except for the approximately $0.62 cents I paid for black beans and the $1.91 for seed potatoes. I don't expect to have to buy anything else.
Free seeds? Yes! So first of all I have some heirloom varieties I saved from my previous year's garden. And then in February I went to the Kaw Valley Seed Fair where I exchanged some seeds for almost all the rest of what was on my "shopping" list for this year's garden. Lastly, the public library had a seed library of donated seeds where I picked up the last envelope of what I still lacked. I'm growing everything I wanted for $2.53, and that will include my fall/winter garden as well.
Hilling Taters
Free seeds? Yes! So first of all I have some heirloom varieties I saved from my previous year's garden. And then in February I went to the Kaw Valley Seed Fair where I exchanged some seeds for almost all the rest of what was on my "shopping" list for this year's garden. Lastly, the public library had a seed library of donated seeds where I picked up the last envelope of what I still lacked. I'm growing everything I wanted for $2.53, and that will include my fall/winter garden as well.
Hilling Taters
The potatoes are growing nicely. Tonight it was time to start hilling. Some plants are about a foot high, so those high rows of soil between them are slowing being used to help build up mounds around the bases. The point is to increase the potato yield this way and reduce the chances of sun coming into contact with the tubers (which would result in green potatoes). The potato plant in the barrel planter is doing fine too.
Bunnies
Bunnies
Uh...yeah.
So one of the two raised beds that hasn't been planted yet got a visitor. Somehow a determined momma rabbit got up into the tall bed and had her three babies there. There was a perfect rabbit nest barely visible except for the hole opening. My mind went on a little journey that went something like this...'Oh crap, I'm going to need tomatoes there!' 'Oh well, I'll wait another week before planting and see how this goes.' 'What if our barred owls swoop down and get these?' 'Is it still considered hunting if it's already in my yard?' 'What is the name of that rabbit dish...fricassee?'
The second to last thought ended up being out loud and was answered with, "MOM, NO!"
So here's the good news. Tonight the babies, as cute as they were, are gone. I'm going to turn that bed this weekend and get the tomatoes started there, and I might surround it with chickenwire for a while just in case. Otherwise, I'll be coming up with a recipe for a nice, thick, white sauce.
Image credit: Cale Ruiz
So one of the two raised beds that hasn't been planted yet got a visitor. Somehow a determined momma rabbit got up into the tall bed and had her three babies there. There was a perfect rabbit nest barely visible except for the hole opening. My mind went on a little journey that went something like this...'Oh crap, I'm going to need tomatoes there!' 'Oh well, I'll wait another week before planting and see how this goes.' 'What if our barred owls swoop down and get these?' 'Is it still considered hunting if it's already in my yard?' 'What is the name of that rabbit dish...fricassee?'
The second to last thought ended up being out loud and was answered with, "MOM, NO!"
So here's the good news. Tonight the babies, as cute as they were, are gone. I'm going to turn that bed this weekend and get the tomatoes started there, and I might surround it with chickenwire for a while just in case. Otherwise, I'll be coming up with a recipe for a nice, thick, white sauce.
Image credit: Cale Ruiz