Several months ago a friend who was preparing to move gave me a net bag of organic sweet potatoes that had been "lost" in her pantry. They were sprouting and had grown up through the bag. I carefully snipped the bag away and broke the best ones off the shriveled tubers to root in a glass of water. When they rooted I planted them in little pots in the greenhouse. A few weeks later I up potted them into 4x4 pots. Yesterday I unpotted and planted them in the whiskey barrel planters to provide some filler. Two or three of them had started to grow tubers! And this got me thinking about a gardener in Maine or Vermont who grew sweet potatoes in a long berm of soil covered with black plastic. I might do my own variation of that and grow some in black plastic garbage bags, and so this winter I will buy some organic sweet potatoes and sacrifice a couple of them to grow some sprouts!
Yesterday I planted flowers and the above mentioned sweet potato plants in 5 whiskey barrel planters and in the big plastic tub on the back porch. The porch has several steps and now all of them have Wave petunias and dusty miller. The wave petunias came in 6 packs with one white plant and one almost white with a narrow purple stripe, and then red and purple. I picked out the lighter colors for the pots on the steps, hoping that it will resemble a waterfall in a few weeks. The darker colors went into the group of whisky barrel planters in a spot where we once had a 500 gallon propane tank. The tank was removed when regulations changed to not allow tanks next to buildings.
I still have some planting to do but am now nearly out of plants. What I am definitely not out of is weeds!
Most of my vegie plants have been planted. I made an enclosure to protect the cabbages and broccoli from our cottontail bunnies. We often see a full grown bunny hopping around and know there are also some young ones. My enclosure is chick wire. I hope they don't tunnel under the edge of it. We bought another two 25 foot rolls at the farm store, taking advantage of the 10% senior discount on Tuesdays. It saves us quite a bit of money.
Today I weeded, watered newly planted vegies and some that were planted before. More potatoes are up every day and I found a volunteer potato plant when I was planting onions. That one will be a surprise. I see some gopher damage in the garlic, however most of the holes I see were made by other critters. The pocket gophers seldom come up above ground. With the removal of weed cover due to mowing and rototilling, the holes are quite visible to our resident owls who hunt at night when such critters are the most active.
Now with most of the garden mostly planted I have been able to turn my attention back to weeding flower beds, planting my half barrel planters and moving some potted plants outside. It might also be safe to move the Christmas cactus to the porch. I don't see any frost in the forecast although some nights will still be in the middle 30's. There is no rush and it is better to be safe instead of sorry.
The weather guessers were right this time, we did indeed have a thunderstorm this afternoon and got another 1 10th of an inch. It all helps. I had been weeding, carefully avoiding a blackbird nest in a bush about 2 feet off the ground with babies in it. All I could see was some movement under a covering of feathers. Momma and Poppa bird were cussing at me from nearby. My wheelbarrow is heaping full again! Yesterday I cleaned a different flower bed and planted sunflowers. I need some small plants for the edge. Sage does well here and might overwinter. I'll see what I can find later this week. It's still early here for setting out annuals so they will be available for a while.
Yesterday I counted 8 clusters of potato leaves! I think I planted about 20. Another welcome sight is the first peonies starting to open. I have not seen a single dandelion. Sagebrush is in bloom and we have been seeing a few mallow and other wildflowers. We have multiple varieties of dryland shrubs in the hills around us, most bloom in the spring but the rabbit brush blooms in the fall just before frost and about the same time the tumbleweed starts to change from light green to red and finally brown before the wind breaks it loose to go tumbling and shedding hundreds of seeds. Tumbleweed is Russian thistle, brought here by immigrants along with their grain seed. They settled in the great plains and a few years later the tumbleweed started showing up miles away. And it just kept tumbling!
Unpredictable spring weather continues. Following a day of blustery wind and rain (we got 2 10ths of an inch) yesterday was beautiful for garden tilling. This morning was as well and I mowed the yard, intended to do other things but by the time I finished mowing the weather front came and brought us wind, lightning and thunder plus another 2 10ths of an inch of rain.
Some flowers are! I have one, a fairly common allium that I wish I had not planted! Yesterday I worked on deadheading all of the alliums I could find in the yard. That invasive one really got away from me. I was also trying to dig out their bulbs. They are confined in an old feed sack because if I put them on the burn pile or the compost they will just be scattered and grow in a different place. There are already a few in the pastures. I need to get those soon.
In past years we have only had one or two hummingbirds until the babies hatch, so then about 4 or 5. This spring we suddenly have 5 or more! The sugar-water feeder is a busy place. We try to count them.
The garden has been tilled. Multiple times. First Ron (our son) went lengthwise, then crosswise, and then I spread leaves and he tilled them under. That takes 3 passes to get the majority of them underground. He used the big, old Troybuilt tiller we bought new in 1983. It's still going strong but I can't handle it anymore. The weather behaved itself today, thank You, Lord! I still have about a dozen bags of leaves and am not sure where I will put them, or when. The sun will begin to break down the bags by fall so that would be the limit of how long they will sit there. Some could be put into the garlic rows anytime between July and late October. I'll add some to the raised bed. Not sure what I will plant in it, maybe the broccoli or some cabbages. Bunnies can't get them there.
The reason for tilling crossways was to mix pathway soil with the old, established rows that had too much cow manure.
Days in the 60's and even up to 80 one day, then frost last night! The vegie plants I bought have spent mornings outside in the sun and breeze and nights in the greenhouse. Yesterday was so windy they also spent the day inside. And so did I.
Two days ago I finished mowing the grass and weeds in the main part of the garden where leaves will be spread and tilled into the soil, and also mowed the weeds in the lower part where my new vegies will be planted after I rototill that part. The grassy edges by the rhubarb and between the grapes and the pasture fence also need mowing again. And after I do that the mower needs to come back to the yard so I can mow that again. Hubby mowed around the buildings and the driveway edges with the riding mower yesterday in spite of the wind.
This morning it calm so we can get the shade cloth on the greenhouse. It's past due. Without it my jade plants and cacti get burned spots. Who would expect cacti to sunburn?
Even after a couple of windy days and nights the bird nest on the porch beam has stayed in place. Ms Bird is a good builder. I'm sure she has eggs in it now. The bird that built the nest in the rhubarb has now built another one in the next plant. She apparently didn't learn a thing!
The lilacs have started to bloom and right away within a day or two of seeing the first flower we have two hummingbirds. That lilac bush was big and old when we moved here 30 years ago and is a refuge for the sparrows, wrens and other small birds. We call it the bird bush. The hummingbirds nest in that bush but I have never been able to spot a nest. When young hummers are big enough to fly the feeder is a busy place and they usually come from and return to that bush.
I'm multitasking in the garden. I did some mowing around rhubarb plants and have a hose going there to give them a good soak. And I mowed next to the old asparagus row and have a slow soaker going there. Since that big tree was cut the asparagus is coming back to life! The peas were watered, also the potato rows and I made 4 holes to plant more because I found 4 nicely sprouting potatoes in a bag. They will extend the row. None of the ones I planted a week or so ago have shown themselves above ground yet and that is fine because the tops would have frozen.
