Ungodly Hour Gardening

It has been quite some time since I have woke up on my own before 8am, let alone 6am, but with the heat being insane around here and the garden needing much attention, I’ve been getting up at 6:30 and going over there to work. Thursday I volunteered at Reiman Gardens again to weed for 3 hours and by the end of it I was thinking “if I can do this for someone else’s garden, I should get my act together and do it for my garden – because heck, that’s the one I get food from.”

So I got up yesterday morning by 7am and got over to the garden by 7:50am. 2 solid hours of weeding left the garden looking pretty awesome – I have to say it was much better than I had thought it would be because Mike had been going out and weeding on his lunch break – but there were a lot of spots where he couldn’t tell what was weed or what was herb, so he let it be – the best thing to do really.

Here is when I first finished planting the garden before I left to the Maker’s Faire in May:

And this is what it’s looking like now (before I weeded everything and cut down those trees back by the fence:

Everything is growing at a good steady pace, but the cauliflower has been decimated by catapillers, the strawberries have been beat down by the rain, and the raspberries and blackberries, well 1 of 3 of each are looking great.

I think the soil is pretty good overall, but could use some more organic materials in it. I think it’s a bit sandier than it should be for the raspberries and strawberries. Now that everything is pretty much up and growing well, I would like to set some mulch down or maybe some more straw.

I’m going to put in some flowers where things didn’t grow – the nasturtiums didn’t sprout at all, so sad, I love those. Nor did the orgegano. Yesterday I went to Lowes and picked up some annuals and herbs that were on sale for $2 each and there were 4 plants in each pot. I’m hopeful I can seperate them out and fill out the garen plots. If anything it’s something that can go into the compost at the end of the year – which is also doing really well.

Peat, Manure, steaks, gardening gloves, natural insecticide (like a soap mix stuff with ash in it or some such thing) and some – gasp – miracle grow. I hate to admit it because I usually go straight up organic. I looked at the back and it’s supposed to be “natural” but I have no delusions about the fact that it most likely is a long stretch from what nature actually makes.

Sunday morning will be all about tying things up and harvesting. All the herbs I planted are doing amazing as is the salad mix bed. Oh and we need to do our second sowing of seeds, more salad mix, beans, peas, spinach. I’m going to change up the location a bit – the greens going along the back fence where the raspberries didn’t take and where they may get a bit more shelter from the sun.

I’m going to make a regular habit of going over there to draw the various things in the garden – there are more than just plants you know, many neat spiders and other bugs. Maybe we can make friends and they will stop eating all my spinach and cauliflower.

Well, I need to get that pattern up for Craft Leftovers – it was way too late to try to take pictures last night, they all came out looking so bad. So much for being ahead of schedule. Nah, I shouldn’t say that. I do already have monday and tuesday’s post done, as well as a post for july. It’s all good. I just need to get ahead with the patterns too is all.

-K

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Tags: gardening