Friday, March 18, 2011

The Garden Goes On

Without a lot of work on my part, but with a lot of help from child and friends, the garden might actually amount to something this year. Of course, my recordkeeping has already gone to pot. I've harvested and cheerfully eaten pounds of kale (and perhaps ounces of aphids) without writing a single amount down. We're still listing eggs, pretty much, on the calendar, but that's about it.

Oh, and the garden plan/drawing thing. I'm sketching things in there as they go in. At least I have some record. Mostly what I want is food -- much much more food. Kale is great, but we eat a lot more than kale usually.

And finally, finally, and with the help of the current Junior Farmer, some crops under lights. Tomatoes, a pepper or two (because not all of the overwintered ones are going to make it), some more kale (yay, kale!), and many flowers because families do not thrive on food alone. Well, okay, some of the flowers are things like breadseed poppies, because baked goods are pretty wonderful, but many are just pretty. For instance, we like zinnias a lot.

And both of my hives, it ended up, dwindled until the lives of the queens were at stake. Disease? I don't think so. Pests? Maybe. I think it was probably a combination of bad keeping and harsh weather -- but both queens were rehomed in more congenial hives and then a friend came over and dropped an entire hive on the fancy stand in my yard.

And fifty strawberries, it turns out, is a lot. Fortunately they all went into the ground ahead of torrential rains. I hope they like it. The winter-planted garlic is growing well, thank goodness. I wish I'd planted more, of course. . . And the peas, the peas that were protected by bird netting, they're still doing really well. So even though there's a ton more work to do, I don't feel anymore as though I'm lying when I tell people I have a large garden. It's just that not all of it (rather than none) is in production right this minute. At least there's hope now.

6 comments:

meemsnyc said...

Sorry to hear about the hive. Hopefully the next one will thrive. Our garlic is doing great too. I too wish we had planted more.

Kristin said...

What a cool hive stand. I've got one hive that is leaning and I wonder how that canted home feels to the bees? Wow, you certainly planted a lot of strawberries. It's going to be wonderful. Do you have problems with slugs eating your strawberries? I do. But I found an organic slug repellent that feeds the soil too. It's not cheap though and crappy beer in recycled plastic salsa containers works just as well. Are the tallies for Denise in your right column current or old? I'm wondering how her mushroom plugs are doing. So glad to see a post from you. I enjoy your blog immensely.

kitsapFG said...

Good to see things are off and growing in your garden! I am hoping to get our pea patch planted tomorrow if the weather continues to cooperate with me. I have to cover my peas too or the birds snatch up as they begin emerging from the ground.

Just Jenn said...

Aw, sometimes it's a struggle to keep up with even the things we love. Glad to see you're making a bit of progress (yay kale!) and you've saved the queens... hopefully they can be moved off when the weather warms up a bit more and they're feeling healthier.

Daphne Gould said...

I've got to get my peas planted soon. The birds I had at my old garden were pretty much non destructive birds. I didn't feed them. And they tended to eat insects (good birds). But here there are vicious flocks of sparrows. I might well have to protect my young seedlings if I want them to live.

Stefaneener said...

memmsnyc, I'm hoping that this current bee group will do better. I may have to up my game.

Kristin, it is a great stand. I know where you can get some : )
I assume we'll have slug problems. I use that iron stuff, which seems pretty effective.

kitsapFG, I hope you got yours planted -- I'm feeling banned from the garden, personally. Lots of rain.

Just Jenn, thanks for the good wishes. I feel behinder rather than in frontover.

Daphne, I wish we had a better good bird/bad bird ratio. Bummer. The arches work well!