Time for writing

Been Oh, so very busy planting for it seems forever now!! LOL!!!

Making such progress!! We enjoyed a home grown salad with dinner last night. A variety of lettuce and spinach leaves. Almost done with the new plants and seeds. I am trying out many new veggies and several different types of gardens. As I find more time I will share more details. Also testing out lots and lots of edibles. And in my spare time I am getting more familiar with Facebook as I have just recently reconnected with an out of state branch of the family, who use this network as a means of staying in touch. Need to get more computer friendly. What a wonderful way to stay connected.

As we are having a cool spell, I will be continuing my work on the raspberry patch - Had a wonderful new gardener, Hulya in on Sunday, and we got the lawn removed, for her to recycle in her yard, in the area where I will be expanding the berry patch!

Have been so busy I have forgotten to bring my camera out, so need to do that today. I have lots of photos to post, and stories to tell. All in good time! Enjoy the day!

Busy, busy, busy

Never finished this one........


Was out of state for two days! What a time of year to be away!!

I have been working day and night to get my planting done. Bed # 1 just needs the parsnips planted at the end and it will be full planted! I took advantage of the rainy weather in the morning to thin seedlings, many of which I was easily to find room for within the raised beds.

We started a Hugelkultur, which is from "Gaia's Garden". It is a pile of branches, in this case we used prunings from around the yard.

Planting frenzy

Trying to get my plants and seeds in with preschoolers is quite a challenge. Got the kids beds planted yesterday - Ended up only adding a pumpkin plant and carrot and radish seeds, which join the peas and lettuce planted earlier. KatieMay created a great tree sculpture with a dead branch and pavers from my huge collection!!

She and Ryan were more excited about digging in my huge compost pile to locate as many worms as possible. They are getting great exposure to all things nature.

Having my first plant offering this weekend. With providing daycare for the kids it will be interesting to see how this goes, as they will both be under my care then. I have been so blessed by my wonderful Mia who has agreed to get up early to watch them during the event!!

Have to get some planting done before my shift today!!

I just love getting my hands into the earth! Planted leek, onions, potatoes, corn, and tons more this week!!

Very busy over here

Last year for Mother's Day I asked my family for help in the gardens for the day. It worked so well that we are doing it again.

Many of you may remember my Raspberry patch and how my hubby and Mia cleared out a new area next to it for me to use to thin out the berries. That is until my hubby forgot what it was for and planted his tomatoes there!! Well, his tomatoes did not like the area, (may have had something to do with my contempt for them), and most of them died!

This year there will be no tomatoes there!!

Yesterday we did a pavers run, only one more truck load and we will be done with the hauling! We have moved hundreds of pavers over the last weeks, and I have been busily using them to surround the new raised veggie beds and for paths in the gardens. What a marvelous addition they make! Thank you, Babs, for your generosity. You have also provide compost and soil to use to fill some of them!

After the truck was unloaded we worked on the gardens. Mia loaded up my black gold compost from the purchased compost bin, to have ready for my choicest plants, while hubby scraped a path area for more paving to be done!

Then we all proceeded to the Raspberry patch, where we dug out a pathway and developed rows for easier picking and less crowdng of plants. These berry plants just love their location. They have spread so much that we are extending the area out towards the veggie beds. OOPS!! That means we have to get rid of more lawn! Too bad!! LOL I have been gunning for it for years.

Then Mia and I worked on the Fruit guilds. We moved a large Rhubarb, splitting it into four plants to provide mulch for the guilds. Also had moved Fennel there during the week, to attract beneficial insects. A Lupine had seeded itself under the Apple tree, which is perfect as Lupine is a nitrogen fixer, so I moved more under the Pear tree as well.

Then added lots and lots of violets, also a nitrogen fixer. What a great time to move them as I could play with all the colors! I love the creative side of gardening. Using the plants as paint, you can create masses of wonderment for the eyes! During this process, I sort of lose myself to the flow of the work. I seek out just the right plants, dig and replant, knowing that I have just what I need in the gardens to create just the right environment for these fruit trees which have yet to be productive. Already they are producing lots of flowers, for the first time, aided by the blooming bulbs, planted last fall which suppress the lawn from encroaching into the area. Right now the Allium is just starting to open up, with a glorious deep purplish pink bloom!

Okay, I cold go on and on, but it is now light out and I need to get moving - so much to do, so little time these days.

Just wanted to let you know what I have been up to!!

Tangerini's Farm

I went to Tangerini's Farm in Millis yesterday. I was after veggie plants and was quite thrilled with all that I found.

That plus finding Stinging Nettle!! It was on the top of my foraging wish list. It is a nuisance weed to farmers. I just happened to be there as they were pulling out and discussing them. Otherwise I never would have noticed them. I was focused on what veggie plants I was needing.

I washed them outside in a huge sauce pot, cut them all to about 12", then steamed them and had them for supper. The grandkids loved them, as did I, and my hubby found them to be very pleasant. A WINNER!!!

Can't wait to go back to the farm when I have the time for a tour. It is in such a beautiful setting.

A miracle

Last Monday this is what the beds looked like. Just starting to fill #1, I had no idea how I would ever get to even finish this one by myself.


Did manage to get half completed and planted in one day. Unfortunately it was a day that topped out in the 90's. Such good planning on my part!!

By the end of the week I had gotten the rest of it filled, with lots of digging and hauling on my part, mostly from Medway!! I decided that I would get started on filling #2, but that I would not plan to even use #3 this season, as it was just too daunting a thought to maintain in my overworked brain!!

Sheila came over Saturday and gave me the needed boost of enthusiasm, and together we got #2 started and completed 4 layers (about 5"0 of Lasagna gardening). She has been telling me that she has just the right tractor that we need and offered it to me on several occasions. I could not see how that would be any help as it was in Walpole, but her offer included bringing it over for us.

In order to get it into the area needed I would need to do a lot of prep work, most difficult being moving the carefully stacked bricks that my son in law had piled oh, so nicely, but right in the middle of the only path we would need to get the tractor into the garden area!!

Well, due to all the work that Sheila helped to accomplish I had the needed energy when she left to relocate all the offending piles of bricks, thinking that I would finish the prep work on Sunday to be ready for the tractor next weekend.

Well, Sheila left me an email message Sat night that I got early Sunday morning, and that's when the miracle got off the ground.
We quickly rearranged our plans for the day, and they (Sheila and Jimmy) came over with tractor in tow.



We dug in,



quite literally

and Jimmy manned the machine!



Hubby, Mia and I had raked off the accumulated branches on a long used compost pie on the woods side of the house. WHO KNEW??!! LOL --- There ended up being more than enough to fill the other two beds!!! We all pulled together and got the layers ready to have the most lush, worm filled pure compost scooped up and dumped into the beds!!

This was a compost area that I used for anything needing to be dumped in the front area of the gardens. I had never accessed it as I had the compost pile on the other side that always supplied more than enough for the gardens. This left side gives you an idea of what the pile looked like before being used.


Here you can see the sand showing at this level - that is what is under this whole area. It had to be filled with about 30 feet of sand to build on as it is a wetland area.




Look at how much is still left to be used!!




Have you seen such beautiful deep, dark compost? It looks just like an expensive loam, only it is loaded with night crawlers and other creeping beneficial critters!!



Here remains the evidence of the miracle of the day - Tractors tracks in the lawn. They will be gone as soon as it gets a good soaking.


And HERE it the end result. #2 and #3 all ready to go!!!


TA-DA!!!!!




And look at this great flower- laden Strawberry plant that greeted me this morning as I was taking all these photos!!!


Now I gotta get to work! Have a great week!!

Seeds are up!!

Many of the seeds I planted on Monday are already up!! What a surprise. And it is only May 2nd!!

Ryan, Katelyn and I finished up the preparation for their raised beds and got a pea plant and two lettuce plants planted today. Tomorrow we will get some seeds planted. It takes A LOT of patience working with a 3 and 5 year old in the garden! I am so glad we built them their own little beds to keep them busy and out from under foot in the big beds.

Sheila came by today and helped to get bed #2 started. I am doing lasagna gardening in it. First layer was cardboard, then straw, peat and grass clippings. Each layer got watered thoroughly. Although I do have to admit that I forgot to water all of the cardboard before I put the straw in, but caught myself halfway through - which is better than remembering after the job was all completed!!

Wow! What a difference a second set of hands make. We whizzed right through the first few layers. Need to get my compost piles up front to fill these new beds. Have had a very generous offer of a small tractor to help with all the hauling. Thanks so much to such wonderful friends.

The new plant traders group is growing steadily. I am meeting lots of new gardeners. Unfortunately right now, with the veggie project I just don't have much extra time for plants, but I am fitting a few people into this busy schedule.

Off to buy the veggie plants I need tomorrow. Then to finish #2, and fill it with veggies!!!