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Oh, dear me! It’s been a while since I updated the garden chronicle. I regard the now 8-year-long project as largely successful — despite the cavils of Deep Ecologists who claim civilization as the world’s sovereign evil and anything beyond hunting-and-gathering a sin. Sorry, I like a salad of fresh arugula and watermelon, sugar-snap peas fresh off the vine, my own sweet-and-spicy cucumber pickles, and the secure feeling of a barrel full of Yukon Gold spuds in the garage in November. Who disagrees that Covid 2020 was a bitch of a year for many reasons. But all those cancelled social obligations gave me more time in the garden, so here’s the rundown on what’s what out there.
First, sad news: my splendid cat, Scooter, “The Lion of Prospect Street,” passed away the day before Christmas, 2019, age sixteen, after a short bout with cancer. His mortal remains endured the winter outside in a wooden box until it was possible to dig his grave (right) in early April. I sprinkled foxglove seeds there and by September many of the biennial plants had established themselves.
I had a great “crop” of compost in the spring with my four-bin system, which included a whole season’s worth of well-cooked chicken bedding. The wood chip paths were working out great to keep weeds down, and I added a fresh layer of chips in April, getting ready to plant.
Early May, ready for planting.
Herbs (center bed) coming up nicely
Chives on the left, lovage on the right.
The hoop house got planted back in March.
By May, bok choy, lettuce, and arugula coming on.
Pears and apples blossoming.
(Chicken house behind)
Oh, snap! A freak May snowfall coats the fruit tree blossoms.
Actually the plums (right) came through pretty well.
When the snow melted, we got three days of cold and rain, which kept the honeybees down, which pretty severely affected the apple and pear crops later on. Growing tree fruit is hard!
Potatoes planted, mix of Yukon Golds and Russets.
Leeks and cabbages coming in.
Salad greens coming up in far bed
More Salad and table greens
Sugar snap peas in background
The whole garden in June in full sun.
Wide shot of the whole outfit on July 4 — tomatoes coming on in boxes at right
Clematis blooming on garden gate arch
Clematis and Kale in June (left) — Lilies in Bloom (right)
Coneflowers (left) — Poppies and lovage (right)
Two new chickens, Edna and Maxine. Turns out these red hens
are much friendlier than the Americaunas.
The flock was down to two in March from predator attacks. Now back to four.
Maxine on the porch with petunias.
Chickens enjoy a dust bath.
Front border with mullein and sunflower (left) — Front border on the other side (right)
Sunflowers in September
Uh-oh!!! Something’s eating my cabbages!!!
Globe thistle, a space alien looking of flower — but looks good in an arrangement!
Cilantro, bok choy, scallions in September
Leek-O-Rama
Mullein, phlox, rudbeckia!
The garden asleep in February, getting ready to come alive again in six weeks or so.
Lots of maintenance work to do in March
