These two photos are separated by a week. You’ll immediately note that the weather is better in the second image. We did have one lovely weekend. You might also notice how clearly lazy I am; the hose is still there. I did manage to move the green rubber ball.
In the interceding week, the potatoes cam up. I also cleared a few beds on the fallow season’s weeds. I broadforked them and added dried blood. I am all geared up for amateur weekend next weekend. The tomatoes and peppers are ready, then sweet potatoes came in today and I’ve already planted corn and the squash family.
I tried two new things with the squash family plants. I soaked the seeds for a few hours to make sure they got a nice jump start. A lot of people do this with all big seeds. I’ll be interested to see if it speeds things up. I’m also planting them all in a row in the big bed just beyond the clothesline. I’m hoping I’ll get more pollination that way. Of course they’ll all attract the same bugs, so that won’t help.
I also interplanted some winter squash with the corn. Yes, I finally relented and am going to grow corn — I just feel that the corn ear borers don’t get enough to eat around here. Back in olden days before white people ruined everything, supposedly people grew corn, beans and sqash together. The squash formed a bit of a mulch, the corn formed a pole for the beans to grow up and the paltry nitrogen the beans provided helped all of them. I don’t buy the bean part because they barely fix enough nitrogen for themselves and they certainly don’t put it right in the soil for everyone else to enjoy.
I’m trying it because I wanted more squash than I’d alotted space for. It’s going to be a disaster.
But just look at all that lovely garlic and potatoes. You can also just see the tiny basil starts I put in. Lovely, lovely.
