The garden is almost all in…
All this weekend, we’ve been clearing up the yard and prepping the garden areas for planting. We’d done this awhile back (the preparation bit) but then with rainy stormy weekends and weekends with temps above 100 — well it didn’t get done. So, this weekend we did it. We got the new herbs for this year in the perennial herb garden which is set up in a circle. Starting at what would be twelve o’clock and going clockwise is the tomato area. Guess you have to grow your own to be safe. But I grow them every year. This year, we put them in containers because we’re still waging a battle with the forest critters. Last year they dug up all the plants in the ground and only left the two we had in containers — so this year it’s containers for the tomatoes.
From 3-6 o’clock is the strawberry garden. We actually got some one day last week. All the others disappeared. Guess we weren’t fast enough. It’s always a race to see who gets the fruit first, us or them, and they usually win. Along the edge are a few herbs in pots. From 6 to 9 o’clock it’s herbs. We have lemon balm, lemon grass, lemon basil, lemon verbena, lamb’s ear, feverfew and sage. Then we have a wedge of rosemary. All the rosemary was pulled up last year because it was too leggy and woody, so it’s all new this year. The final wedge is lavender. Three plants made it and are two years old now. I added four more this year and hope to fill that wedge if they manage to live through the summer, the critters, and the winter.
We also put our blueberry bushes in containers on the deck. This is their second year and we had tons of blooms earlier and now we have actual blueberries. We try to get out in the afternoon to pick whatever ripens to beat the birds to them. Of course, squirrels and even raccoons have been known to climb the stairs to our deck — so it’s our way of trying to beat the critters in the steal the fruit and veggies from Paul and Gayle game.
This year, we put a few other plants on the deck. These Roma tomatoes have already come out and are looking good. I couldn’t resist this container garden with a few herbs and a tomato plant. We also planted watermelon and cantaloupe on the deck in containers (with lattices for them to climb. I’ll probably have to string some slings to hold the fruit if they develop and I expect they will. In years past, we got watermelon and cantaloupe but the critters got them first. As soon as they started getting ripe we’d keep our eyes on them, but then one morning, we’d found that the fruit was nearly all eaten overnight. So, I’m hoping that having some plants on the deck means that we’ll actually get to harvest more of what we plant.
This morning when we walked down to get the paper at the mailboxes, I decided to bring my camera. There has been a cardinal with bright red plumage near the wood pile on our neighbors yard and I thought I might be able to get a photo. Unfortunately, the bird didn’t show but as we came out from the trees we did see two deer. I only got a shot of one of them. Remember this is on the 1/4 mile walk to the mailboxes.
Now do you understand why I love living here. We may be far from shops and stores and neighbors but we’re near many of the things that make life worth living and more in tune with nature. I really mean that, even when we’re waging our losing battle with the critters to get more fruits and veggies from our garden than they do.