Hello, hivers and gardeners!
I guess it's been a while since I've written a post here on hive. I really just haven't had much to write about, and I haven't had enough mental energy to find a new subject to write about.
I decided to write about the sad state of my garden right now. It still feels like late winter here more than spring time. We're still getting snow flurries every few days, but on the bright side, it's been above freezing during the day. That means that the snow is slowly melting away. I can actually see parts of my yard and garden now.
I was reading the gardening posts here on hive and seeing other people sprouting their garden plants and planting their gardens, and my garden is still frozen.
I took a few pictures of my gardens a couple of days ago, so I decided to post them so you can see the sad state of my gardens.
This is a view of the big garden at home.
Here's a look at the garden from the back gate by the alley. Once all the snow melts and we get a decent day, I can pick up all of the boards in this area. Those are the garden path boards that I use for walking on between the rows. The help a bit to keep the weeds down by blocking any growth where I put them between the plant rows. Also, with the boards, I don't have to walk in the mud in the garden on a wet day.
I'm planning on moving the compost pile to this area when it gets warm enough to work in the garden. Than I can plant the area where the compost pile is right now. I also have to move the bean trellis. As you can see, I left it up last fall.
I also took a ride up to the community garden to look at my garden plots. I'm renting 3 plots there, the same as last year. Here's an overall view of the garden from across the street. As you can see, the snow is all melted away up here on the hill, except for some piles from the snow plow.
Last year, a friend of mine used one of my plots to grow sweet corn, so I'm going to have to clean out the corn stalks before I plant anything. I might plant pumpkins in this first plot, that way I won't have to dig out the roots of the corn stalks. The pumpkins will grow right over them.
This is the second plot. The first and second plots are fenced in together, I've had them the longest, at least 5 years.
I have some straw covering part of this plot, but I need to haul some compost up here to put on the bare area. If I feed the worms, the worms will feed the plants.
This is my third plot. This will be my second year using this plot. I covered this plot with shredded leaves last fall to give the ground a bit of help with fertility and moisture holding capacity. This dirt is sandy and loose, which is good for potatoes, but it needs more organic matter. I plan on hauling my rototiller up to the community garden in May to work up this garden plot as well as a couple of other plots.
The ground is still mostly frozen here, so I won't be able to do any work here for at least a couple of weeks, unless we get a good warm spell with a lot of sunny days to speed up the thaw. The ground typically freezes 2 to 3 feet deep in the winter, so it takes a while to thaw out after the snow melts away.
That's all I have for this post, thanks for checking it out!
Really interesting! We live in quite different climates! Hope you can work in your garden real soon!
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Too bad your train track doesn't run all the way to the community garden. ;)
I just started some seeds indoors myself, can't plant outside here yet either. I didn't see anything budding when I went out today though fb memories showed me it has happened in the past by this date, so hopefully soon.
Good idea. I've been experimenting with no dig as much as possible, trying to encourage fungi and bugs and all the good soil stuff, and that means letting roots rot down with their entangled fungi as well. I love how the pumpkin vines shade the soil and encourage life underneath.
Won't be long before it's a bountiful garden again, full of colour and marigolds!
Hi @riverflows!!! Wouldn't it also be better to leave the roots in the ground, they would rot and basically turn into compost no?
What zone are you in? Assuming you are somewhere in America?
Yes, I'm in Upper Michigan, U.S. We are zoned 4A.
I've just started teaching myself about the different zones for planting in America. Good luck with your garden this year!
Thank you!
The ground isn't frozen here, but it gets bitter cold at night still, and there are flurries in the forecast. Living a hop, skip, and a jump from Canada has its hurdles in the gardening department for sure. At the library, I see people discussing what they start indoors, how many seedlings they've moved in and out every day over the years, and so forth.
You just gave me an idea to also use a walking board so that I can avoid mud on wet days. Good afternoon!
I feel the same way but about people who are gardening in Australia or South Africa! I am a good bit ahead of you, here in new England, but this is VERY unusual. I seldom was able to get into gardens much before mid April. Having been out working in the gardens since mid March is just bizarre!
Same here, we can work the soil, though until yesterday I haven't put any of our seedlings out yet. Just in case of another frost!
I'm sure to have several frosts here before May 31, so I've a long wait.
Crazy winter this year!
We had a really early spring here last year, I got spoiled pretty quickly by that.