The weekend of April 9th & 10th was exciting in the garden as we “broke sod” on a new plot! We intend to use this space for the vine and sprawling plants. It turned out to be a bit of an unusual shape and we have never started a bed that truly just grass before plus I don’t want to buy a lot of new dirt in plastic bags (does anyone else see the irony in that?) so this whole section will be one big experiment.
In the original garden, back corner, our rhubarb came back and growing strong. We also had some onions return. We are working on clearing out the Creeping Charley weed that has spread from our neighbors’ yards. Another first on the homestead was the planting of potatoes. Mom had some potatoes go to seed before we could eat them so we decided to try planting them. The potatoes were organic from the farmers market at the end of last fall. I made trenches and then hilled the potatoes. I also planted two long rows of onions, one red and one yellow. The onions are planted close together and we are suppose to pick every other one after they have some growth, so we’ll have a crop of small early onions and leave the rest to mature to regular size.
Potatoes in the trench before being covered up
Onion sets. Yellow and Red (cant wait to make guac!)
The not so fun part of gardening was the spring clean up. We attempted to make a dent in clearing out mulberry growth and pulling maple seedlings that like to take over the fence lines. We also did some pruning to the wild rose bush. I decided rose gardener will NOT make the future career list. However we did transplant two roots for Emily at her new house.
Finally something just as exciting as a new garden- our new CLOTHESLINE! This one was made in Parkersburg, IA (locally made) and it can fit a lot of clothes. I had to dig and dig to get a foot and half hole. I seriously thought I was digging to China, I wish I would have gotten a picture of it. After about the first layer, at least a hand’s length of grass roots!, we hit really awesome dirt- who knew! Apparently our house was built on land that use to be a dairy farm so I am thinking deep under the grass is some quality cow enhanced dirt.
And it spins!
