With the kids gone camping, I have had lots of time to give undivided attention to the ailing garden. We finally got some rain last week, and as a result, the little weeds I'd been letting live sprung up almost immediately and engulfed my poor plants.
All is not lost though. I must say that the weeds are a breeze to pull compared to a few years ago. Adding all of that organic matter (grass clippings, straw, leaves, ashes, chicken poo, compost) each year has sure helped make the soil user-friendly!
We generally make raised rows/hills to plant in and mulch in between with grass clippings and straw. When I pull weeds(with the exception of dandelions/thistles), I lay them with roots exposed on top of the mulch so that the sun can cook them until they are dead, and then they are eventually worked into the soil as they decay.
So, a little update on the "you're planting too early, dear" plot of beans, cukes and beets, which the bees are totally loving these days:
My Royal Burgundy Bush Beans (that are, by the way, somewhat less attractive to bean beetles):
Aren't the little purple flowers pretty?
It's actually doing very well! Note: if you have even a tiny inkling that your cucumbers might have grown, be sure to go out and check on them. Again. I thought I only had little 1" cukes like these.....
and after the rain I went out and looked closer and I had about 6 ready and near-ready-to-pick cucumbers!
And I had only just bought 6 cucumbers at the store! Ack!
Here's what the rest of the garden is looking like. In the pic, it's in need of lots of weeding, but I'm working on that! Third row from the left has been completely de-weeded since this pic. Woo-hoo!
In the meantime, I see lots of Cucumbers and Onions in our future.....and I need to dig up some recipes using green beans, basil, chard, kale, beet greens....
Here's to Real Food!
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