Friday, May 13, 2011

Some Spring

I live in the city limits and am not in danger of flooding (although we are only about 15 miles away from it), but many people are. My neighbour's friend from Elie, Manitoba says it looks like a war zone with the military all over the place. Looting of sandbags are an issue. Some homes have sand bags and some have not been delivered yet. The controlled breach of the dike is scheduled for tomorrow morning, and although there is speculation as how this will work out nobody really knows for sure. I hear this is a once in 300 year flood. Then I hear there has never been a flood like this.

I continue on in the garden and wonder if it will be wet and cold all summer. Its a good time to think about raised garden beds. On that note, here is an update...




The B man built a 3 x12 ft raised garden bed in a part of the yard that gets lots of sun. About a hundred years ago, when our yard was still part of someone's farm , an outhouse sat on this very site. Then we had our compost on it for 2 years. Imagine how fertile this site must be! I have great hopes for whatever will be grown here. Daughter Younger wants to plant peas. We'll see. We are waiting for the weather to cooperate. It is still too cold.
The garlic survived last year's warm autumn weather! Lets see if they survive the wet. So far so good. The raspberry bush is coming along nicely too. I heard somewhere they like damp soil, but do they like flooded soil??
We are already eating the green onions. Seeing these bits of growth really gives some hope for things to come.
These recycled pallet garden boxes have been moved to a sunnier ( what sun??) location. Deer Tongue, Purple Velvet, and Cimarron Lettuce got planted in the far left one a few days ago. Radishes will go in the remaining one or two boxes. I can hardly wait to collect the leaves and make radish leaf pesto. Such a thing exists and it is supposed to be tasty. Mmmmm.

The B man built 3 of these boxes to go where there has been successful harvest ( sometimes it pays to experiment with location. People said nothing would grow but for 2 years pole beans thrived here anyway) Being raised will allow the soil to warm up faster and drain better. Pole beans, my favourite vegetable plant of all, will get planted here again. Such beautiful flowers that bloom the entire season attracting butterflies, bees, and humming birds.







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