Like a lot of people, I’m dancing the compromise between working for a living and being more self-reliant in my daily life. It goes in fits and starts and is hindered by many factors including the weather, my own age, and the up and down demands of our business. Fortunately, we work from home, so at least the matter of commute time doesn’t come into the equation, as well as the ability to put in time when I MUST outside with extra time at the desk when I must – even if its 6am or a sunday afternoon.
This morning needed to get the grape plants into the ground, move a couple of the pepper plants that went in over the weekend, get some potatoes in dirt, and water everything.
First the grape plants. Bought a tall arched arbor that goes between two grow bags. Got it assembled over the weekend and Monday moved the pots with the grapes near them. While in that area of the garden, pulled some of my onions (they were in one of the grow bags I wanted to use for a grape plant), shifted around some soil, dumped a grow bag that was doing nothing, clipped the flowers off the rhubarb, and snipped off the bulbules from some of the walking onions.
For the latter, do not have enough room to let them walk around, so I snip of the bulbules and plant them in a little pot I keep for the purpose. by the fall they are ready to be planted elsewhere for the winter, with a spring harvest. This never gives me a lot, but does allow me to keep them alive and aclimatized should I ever want to expand them.
Today went round and found one of the grape plants had fallen over and leaves that had hit the ground had all turned brown and crispy. Just a couple of days! Anyway, got them planted and fertilized all the way around the blueberry, the grapes, the blackberry, the rhubarb, the nectarine and the fig.
Speaking of the nectarine, see ONE fruit trying to form.
Then into the main garden. Seeds are coming up for the replacement zucchini and two of the spaghetti squash. This would have encroached on two of the peppers I had planted over the weekend, so moved them. had been keeping a section of the garden open for bush beans, but my instead plant them in the raised bed next to the kitchen. That has not been much of a success yet as I keep forgetting to get out there and water it regularly!
Have not planted any basil this year
Did get some potatoes in a large grow bag outside. Last year potatoes had done okay, but kept getting eaten, so immediately put up some protection for these seed starts. The ones planted in the greenhouse succumbed to Verticillium fungus, I think. Everything was growing well and suddenly they turned yellow, wilted and died. Had added some manure/compost to the soil and hope that was not the issue!! Have added the same to the pots that I replanted with existing turmeric plants and they are also doing poorly. Right now, have a salvia in the pot that had the potatoes in it. don’t know if that will be susceptible or not. Of course, it could have come from the seed potatoes also.
After all that garden work, watered and then set up the solar oven for some chicken breasts for lunch. The sun hadn’t reached around to the point where I set that up until then.
When all this was done I had spent about 2 hours working in the garden, maybe more.
and I thought about how hard this would all be if I had to do enough of it to completely satisfy our food needs for a year – every single day – and I admire our ancestors for their back breaking labor. It also made me appreciate why they were so anxious to embrace the “time saving” appliances of vacuums, refrigerators, toasters, washing machines, etc.
