How Does My Garden Grow? plus hügelkultur!
As I said in my last post, I doubled the cage's capacity:
I added two raised beds that I had lying around and have planted Napa cabbage on one of them already. I covered the whole thing with newspapers (soy ink) and added wood chips on top in an effort to conserve moisture as I will be planting the Summer stuff on the dirt itself.
I planted peas as well since the weather people are telling me we are to have an early Spring --and so far they are right!. In large pots I have sowed some strawberry seeds and purslane.
I also have two blueberry bushes in pots.
Speaking of berries, I was happily surprised to see that my poor lingonberry from last year survived the winter in it's cloth pot. I amended its soil with an acidifier and Hi-Tone fertilizer to give it a fighting chance.
Behind the cage in the picture, you can see my old shed. This year that sucker is becoming my green house. Behind it sits the corner of my yard that will become the permanent strawberry patch. Right now, I have a number of volunteer Rose of Sharon bushes growing there that I want to move elsewhere in the yard.
I planted white clover in front of the cage earlier in the year and it is finally sprouting. I really hope it takes. My plan is to plant clover all over the back yard.
FLOWERS:
This year I am really growing flowers. I already sowed Milkweed seeds in the butterfly garden. It's a small patch this year. I also sowed Zinnias and Bluebells. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
In the front of the house I put three large planters with bulbs from my back yard. These bulbs were planted many years ago by the original owner of the house and they still come up every year although they don't always flower. I dug some up and put them in rich soil in the hopes they will flower and remember what they are. They are still alive.
HÜGELKULTUR:
This year I learned about this way of enriching your soil. It's a long term investment. I was looking for an alternative use for all the wood I have from the giant cottonwood that I had cut last Spring. I was burning it in this fire pit we sit around in the evenings but I was feeling guilty about that. In hugelkultur you bury the wood and that way you don't re-release the carbon the tree so kindly removed from the air.
I will put another layer of material on top of the hill and begin planting this very year. In time, all the wood under the dirt will decompose and create a very rich soil. It's a progressive thing. In the pictures you may see the two reasons why I have to garden in the cage and why my butterfly garden has a fence around it.
FRUIT:
I think I killed my fruit trees by over-pruning. It may be too early to tell but at this point, I have zero fruit trees with any buds. If I did kill them I will feel terrible and I will replant immediately.
I have lots of other ideas but I will tell you about them in another post.
Thank you for stopping by!
I added two raised beds that I had lying around and have planted Napa cabbage on one of them already. I covered the whole thing with newspapers (soy ink) and added wood chips on top in an effort to conserve moisture as I will be planting the Summer stuff on the dirt itself.
I planted peas as well since the weather people are telling me we are to have an early Spring --and so far they are right!. In large pots I have sowed some strawberry seeds and purslane.
I also have two blueberry bushes in pots.
Speaking of berries, I was happily surprised to see that my poor lingonberry from last year survived the winter in it's cloth pot. I amended its soil with an acidifier and Hi-Tone fertilizer to give it a fighting chance.
Behind the cage in the picture, you can see my old shed. This year that sucker is becoming my green house. Behind it sits the corner of my yard that will become the permanent strawberry patch. Right now, I have a number of volunteer Rose of Sharon bushes growing there that I want to move elsewhere in the yard.
I planted white clover in front of the cage earlier in the year and it is finally sprouting. I really hope it takes. My plan is to plant clover all over the back yard.
FLOWERS:
This year I am really growing flowers. I already sowed Milkweed seeds in the butterfly garden. It's a small patch this year. I also sowed Zinnias and Bluebells. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
In the front of the house I put three large planters with bulbs from my back yard. These bulbs were planted many years ago by the original owner of the house and they still come up every year although they don't always flower. I dug some up and put them in rich soil in the hopes they will flower and remember what they are. They are still alive.
HÜGELKULTUR:
This year I learned about this way of enriching your soil. It's a long term investment. I was looking for an alternative use for all the wood I have from the giant cottonwood that I had cut last Spring. I was burning it in this fire pit we sit around in the evenings but I was feeling guilty about that. In hugelkultur you bury the wood and that way you don't re-release the carbon the tree so kindly removed from the air.
I will put another layer of material on top of the hill and begin planting this very year. In time, all the wood under the dirt will decompose and create a very rich soil. It's a progressive thing. In the pictures you may see the two reasons why I have to garden in the cage and why my butterfly garden has a fence around it.
FRUIT:
I think I killed my fruit trees by over-pruning. It may be too early to tell but at this point, I have zero fruit trees with any buds. If I did kill them I will feel terrible and I will replant immediately.
I have lots of other ideas but I will tell you about them in another post.
Thank you for stopping by!
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