make it happen!
Last night Dwight and I mowed and trimmed the property and then planted 160 onion bulbs (80 each of white and /red). Â We scattered straw and then covered with the row cover to keep the straw from blowing all over the place! When I stopped by this afternoon on my way home from school, there were two rabbits sitting in the beds. We are going to have to get the fence going. I say this every day, but now it’s been several weeks, and time is running out.
What is not to like about this bouquet of landscape timbers artfully arranged in a 100-gallon vase (pronounced vaaaaz, of course)? Thank you, Bill!
How many fence post digging companies do you know that use a grand piano lid stick to clean off the muck? Just what I thought: not very many. This stick is made of walnut. It’s very sturdy . . . and aesthetically pleasing, don’t you think?
Building fence is not for the faint of heart–and not especially easy–or fun–when it’s this muddy!
After watching a few YouTube videos, we decided this was the way we wanted to protect plants–year round. Dwight cut rebar in to 2′ lengths. The ground was sooo saturated with water, we didn’t even need a hammer. We left 6-8″ above the ground. The PVC sticks are 10′ long. I think they could be a little shorter. Anyway, during cold weather months we plan to put 3mil plastic on so that we can have greens for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners–and in between! Obviously, we need to either get a wider row cover or shorten the PVC sticks.
Dwight’s handiwork
It’s a beautiful, busy Saturday. So many options, so little time. This morning when I arrived at Piper, Dwight had six 5-gallon buckets of water waiting for me to use on my freshly planted broccoli and cabbage plants. Â So I watered them and spread some straw on the onions that are established. I also snipped off some of the onions I grew from seed. I read that in order to grow thicker stems/stalks, you can snip them, leaving three inches. Then the stalk will be grow out to pencil-thickness.
Then on to pick up Mom for a trip to a new nursery that has opened just south of Roseville, Sweet Briar. We found the visit very inspiring because the owner has such a positive attitude and seems undaunted by any circumstances. In addition to plants, she has 500 baby chicks (in addition to  probably 50 full-grown chickens of various breeds) and a 31-year-old horse.
Back to Macomb and to the Macomb Community Garden for a little wheelbarreling exercise. Then . . . time for lunch. I was just trying to remember what I did after lunch. Ah! How could I forget that Bill and I went over to Piper Stree and mowed and trimmed both properties!
Later in the day, Lisa and I planted the remaining broccoli/cabbage seedlings. Then we covered it with the rest of the row cover. Whew! When I arrived home, Bill said there was rain at the Mississippi River; I hope it is a gentle one!
Finished off the day with a repotting extravaganza. Repotted rosemary and the remaining cabbage/broccoli. Hopefully, Mom and Dad will have room for some of these!
another bed of broccoli and cabbage
After dinner I left for Piper Street with two pans of broccoli or cabbage–don’t know which. After planting them, I watered and then covered with the row cover–in an effort to keep pests of all shapes and sizes from feasting on my seedlings!!
Oh, my! This bed is full of onions–and I still have some left to plant. When I went to Piper this evening, I had every intention of planting some cabbage and broccoli because the seedlings are starting to lay over. I think they need to be planted where their roots have a little more room to grow–although I did read that these plants have shallow root systems. Instead, though, I weeded the entire onion bed, planted some more onions (row down the middle), watered them, and raked up some of the grass in the back forty. I was going to put the grass on the onion bed as mulch, but decided to let it dry another day or so–then I will do it. At work today, Joel mentioned that he had trouble with mold when he used grass. Hmmmm. Maybe I should use some straw? I will have to investigate that.
red onions
finished onion bed
overview
Lisa summed up this evening’s activities by saying that she was reminded of Alice in Wonderland’s trip “down the rabbit hole.” Four post holes were dug by as many people. The 4×4 posts are 12 feet long. The holes are three feet deep. In addition to setting the posts, the lawn was mowed and trimmed, and onions were planted and watered. Here are a few shots of the action:
down the rabbit hole
Mom supervises
Dad brings a little class to the worksite
Dwight provides quality control for the worksite
getting close to 36″ deep
Lisa takes a break cuz–cuz she’s been workin’ hard!
view looking north
my favorite view
Tonight Dwight joined us for dinner, and then he and I went to Piper to do some rototilling. We started about 6:15. After we tilled and raked up the dirt for all of the existing beds, we decided to dig another bed. Why not? It was only 7:10pm. Sunset was not until 7:59 or so. So Dwight staked it off while I whacked some weeds–my new favorite obsession. Then we dug without stopping. As you can see, the last pic was taken after the sun went down.
first pass
my earth moving efforts
rototilling by the light of the moon