On Wednesday morning I was up at 5:15AM after another bad night and my general helper had spent the night. We got out to the Big garden by 6AM to plant the 6 rows of onions.
First I lifted off all the good remaining mulch from the winter. Then we raked the loose, half composted mulch out of the way.
The good dry mulch was carefully stacked on the left, the damp, full of soil mulch raked to the side.
We started out with the hayfork, center, then used garden rakes, left. The orange tool is a broadfork and is used to loosen soil without destroying the biology in the soil. The bucket far left is the special mix amendment for this garden.
Next the amendment is spread on the whole area, measuring roughly 14’ x 14’. A string is run to keep the row straight and also a tape measure. Because everything is mulched, it’s a lot easier to do if things are standard spaces.
Next I broadforked the row and my helper smoothed it out with a handfork. We first planted Cortland storage onions, and one row is finished and mulched.
We brought the loose mulch over in sleds after moving the good dry mulch from the pile and putting it behind each row.
Then we took small handfuls and carefully tucked them alongside each plant.
We had plenty of mostly too big Cortland onions and my helper took home 6 plants. Then we started the 3 rows of Walla Walla Sweet onions. These hadn’t grown as well and there were a lot of small ones. But we had to use all but one plant to finish the last row. She got that one to take home also.
We finished about 10AM and the sun had come out at 8AM, so it was getting pretty hot. She got the string out of the garlic rows, and I got out the hoses and stuff for running sprinklers. We got that up and running by 10:30AM when she had to go.
I did a couple more chores and called it quits at 11AM.
Old North garden – bloodroot leaves
I got cleaned up and made my notes and got my photos and got a shower.
North Corner garden – pink wood hyacinth volunteers
I rested for a while and got some lunch and made sure all the shades were pulled in the windows against the sun.
West Shed garden – white iris blooming
I spent part of the afternoon watching a movie.
West garden – coral bells are flowering
But I was so tired I ended up going to bed mid afternoon and sleeping for a while.
I got up around suppertime and made supper and got the sprinkler going on the plants in the Big garden for a couple hours.
South Herb garden – peony buds starting to open
South garden – the sweet peas came up (so did the grass…)
On Thursday, I was hoping it was going to rain, but the forecast is for maybe thunderstorms. Not the gentle rain I’d hoped for. I need to take a lot of seedlings to the cold frames as the temperatures won’t be so hot. I also need to feed all the seedlings. My helper won’t be back until the middle of next week.
Once that’s done, I’ll probably just try to have an easy day, getting chores done, like laundry. I have a lot of phone calls to make too.
I know you have a lot of activities going on in the garden but I'm glad that you are really making out time to rest.
Is bloodroot leaves for blood tonics just like the name implies?
No, it's named for the red sap that comes out.
I would definitely be looking for a nap after a full morning like that! Isn't it nice to have flowers blooming again, after the colorless wintry months?
It's been a very lovely spring this year! My favorite time of year, and May is the best month on the farm.
#hive #posh
Great stuff here. Awesome to see what you are up to.
And i couldn't agree more about the mulch. This year i am finally on the ball with adequate mulching, adding to it all the time with a wide variety of stuff. Just yesterday i spotted someone cutting their grass and bagged a huge amount of fresh cuttings to add everywhere. One man's trash is another man's treasure!
Be careful with fresh cuttings. They heat up and can kill plants...
Thanks and yes, we could feel the heat in his pile when we moved it. Just 24h after he created it. This fresh stuff gets layered thinly around the plants. Once it dries (if it ever stops raining!) another layer is added and so on.
The Iris flowers is really doing so well and yes, because you have put a lot of work into it.
You inspire me a lot and I'm actually starting a small garden...😊
Let's see how it goes...
I am glad you are trying it. As you know, keeping a garden doing well is a lot of work, but the rewards can be lovely.
You’re really truly your best and I must commend you for that but do you usually have time to rest? Farm work isn’t really easy. Also, do you work on the farm everyday?
In the season, it’s every day. But I rest most afternoons.
The afternoon rest is such a blessing!
No kidding!
So you separated the wet mulch from the dry one... what would you do with the wet ones? It's like they have gone bad.
The plants are so green, they must be getting enough sunlight.
The wet mulch is still good, in fact it's part way to feeding the soil and biology. It gets put down first in a thin layer, then covered well with the dry stuff. But the rows for the onions were so small I didn't want to deal with it. I'll spread it on bigger areas later.
I feel like I'm a very lazy person reading your post. You really are a workaholic 😊
But your hardwork is paying off, I can see beauty all of around you.
I'm not well enough to be a workaholic. I just work as long as I can, then crash and rest. It's seldom more than 4 hours a day that I can work.
Awesome day's work and your onions are planted, yay! I should fertilize again also, thanks for the reminder. Have a great day.