We are now in late spring with about 3 weeks until summer solstice. Already it is light enough at 9 pm to still go for a walk. I love this time of year as it is usually still cool in the mornings and evenings. But we are due to hit 90 degrees tomorrow so I have some work to do.
My farm is on Wrencoe Loop and sits at about 2355’ elevation. It is situated such that it receives both an early morning and late afternoon breeze. This is always welcome as it picks up the scent of lilacs, apple blossom, and roses. Delightful!
I managed to prune all but one fruit tree this spring. It will just have to wait until next winter. My stack of branches awaiting the chipper will have a few more weeks delay as the machine is in need of a tune-up and the mechanic is otherwise occupied. In the meantime, garden planting has begun and plants are already emerging.
The base of the garden received an application of organic fertilizer in the form of feather meal to add nitrogen, 11% by weight. I then added chopped leaves, grass clippings, chopped hay and dried field grasses as a cover. This received a watering as well as the spring rains. Then I added a compost layer. This 2 year old compost contains rotted horse manure, chicken manure, chicken house and barn litter, hay, shavings, and decomposed wood pellets. After two years of cooking near the garden this compost is very dark dirt.
My garden is broken up into small 8’ x 16’ or 16’ x 16’ pens to help mitigate the deer issues I have. If even one deer manages to get into the garden overnight it can decimate an entire springs’ work. Deer tend to not jump into a smaller space. And a smaller space allows better opportunity to use companion planting strategies.
After adding the compost I planted Beefsteak Tomatoes and Crackerjack Marigold in the hoop house. In the past this has worked well to deter bugs. I added a little calcium in the form of Calpril to each tomato plant to prevent blossom end rot. Then the whole space was layered again with grass clippings to stem weed growth.
In the next pen I layered elements the same way. I then planted Blue Lake green beans and Fava beans in the compost. They received another layer of peat moss to stem any drying from the sun and the garden breeze. The space will get another layer of mulch. In the same pen I planted green peas. The soil was layered the same way except I added wet newspaper and mulch between the rows to control weed growth.
The next pen is beets and carrots. The layering of soil, feather meal, mulch, compost, peat moss and more compost on top of wet newspaper between the rows seems to be working for moisture retention.
While most people plant potatoes as soon as the soil is workable, this has not always worked in my garden space. And since I have had spuds frost in the past, I decided to wait this year. The soil has been given the same layering treatment. Once the layer of compost was down I simply laid the whole seed potato on the loose compost and covered it with a couple more shovels. The hills will be mulched throughout the season with leaves and grass clippings and more compost as the plants grow.
My hope is to get the Mammoth sunflowers and squash in the next pen over the next two weeks. They are doing well in the greenhouse and will be ready to place in the ground when the danger of frost in my area has passed.
I have included a few photos of the garden spots and the compost pile.