Organic Gardening: Time to Work!

Beans and cucumbers sprouted after only 5 days!

Things are really getting busy here on the farm.  Nearly everything is transplanted and almost all seeds are in the ground, with the exception of the interplantings.

A routine

I'm still tired, like last week, but am settling into my summer routine:

• Work in the garden from first light (as soon as I can tell a snake from a stick) until the heat and/or humidity become unpleasant, which is about 9.
• Get on the tractor and bushhog or mow until the heat and/or humidity become unbearable.
• "Chill out" in the cool house:  cleaning, cooking, or writing.  (Or napping!)
• Go back to the garden when the breeze comes up in the evening and work until I can no longer tell a snake from a stick.
• Chill out inside for a bit before enjoying the sleep of the weary.

Mandy (Big Red Ripper) cowpeas!

This week has been typical, and the beans, peas, squash, and cucumbers planted on Monday night have sprouted!  That is a testament to warm air temps as well as warm soil temps and some judicious watering.

Water everywhere

Speaking of watering, since I've expanded my beds this year (growing from 4 to 8), I'm in need of more low-pressure Gilmour flat soaker hoses, especially since my wonderful 50-foot hose lost its battle with the tiller last fall.  (It took me over an hour to unwind the snarl from the tiller tines.)  We've been watering with oscillating sprinklers this week, but the additional hoses go in next week, which will, hopefully, save some water, especially once I begin mulching with yard clippings.

Broccoli and cabbage have grown a lot in 2 weeks,
but need fertilizer!

I've also fertilized the transplants this week, giving them a dose of the lovely Garden-Tone from Espoma.  Although all of my garden area was, at one time, part of a corn patch, some of the strips have been "worked" more than others, and it shows.  I stabbed the ground next to each plant for a fertilizer "earth funnel" and the newer beds (worked less) were harder than the beds I worked last year.  The plants in those strips will need some extra care.

In fact, I'm considering tilling up another strip and planting a series of mulch crops to help condition the soil for next year.

Interplantings

Back to this year, though.  Since I will not have enough grass clippings to mulch all of my garden strips this year, I plan on interplanting other vegetables.  The current plan is:

• Carrots with tomatoes
• Beans with tomatoes
• Beets with cabbage and broccoli
• Eggplant among the pole beans

Peppers will be mulched with the grass clippings; that has worked really well for several years.

Working through the time of long shadows!

Cucumbers and beans are already planted in the same bed (cucumbers down the middle along a trellis, in the hopes that the bean canopy will minimize the weeds around the cucumbers.

Pole beans are planted at the foot of each tripod leg (including the tomato trellis supports) in the hopes they will climb up the leg.

A new tool

In years past, my patches were grassy and weedy, but I've already improved on weeding this year.  The difference?  The "action hoe"!  It's light; it's nimble; it's fast!  I know my plants will do better when they are not competing with grass and weeds for nutrients.

A "berry" good report

The early blackberries are turning red (from green) and we are hoping to have the first berries in a week or two!  The canes are loaded and we're hoping for a good year.  We've been watering with a t-post sprinkler from Tractor Supply which we've found to be far more stable than a tripod.

Wild roses, violets and buttercup--
beauty is there for those with the eye to see it!

Slowing down

As you can see, it's been a busy week here on the farm, but sometimes I am forced to stop and remember why I am so thankful to be here:

One of my early memories is sitting on the church steps on the opposite corner of this property and listening to the bobwhites and whipporwills.  I was disappointed, when I moved here, to learn that they had been gone, hunted out, for many years.  The second summer, I thought I heard bobwhites, but could never prove it.  The third summer, several others in the community heard what seemed to be a lone bobwhite.  The fourth summer and fifth summers, we had a pair.  This summer, we've heard at least two pair.

This morning, I saw a bobwhite sitting on the trellis that is 25 feet from my back door, calling for his mate.  By the time I retrieved my camera, he had flown away.  But I saw him.  He seemed comfortable here.  I hope he stays--and brings friends--for his call takes me back to a slower time when time was savored.  And that's my most important plan for the summer:  savor the time, and the people I share that time with.

What about you?

How are you living your Savory life?

Nancy