Spring! That glorious thing!…. seriously… yesterday? 68 degrees. I mucked stalls in a long sleeve Tee, no jacket required… and mud boots. The horse pastures are soggy, the paddocks muddy, the dirt roads around this little farm have little rivers running through. The horses were blanketless and rolled in the mud because it felt so good to be naked. I let the chickens loose out into the yard so they could stretch their legs and wings and forage for worms and bugs.. because the bugs were indeed out and about…. How does that happen with just a two day stretch of warm?
I looked up as I was walking out to feed horses in the evening and the moon was so beautiful and bright I ran back inside to grab the tripod and long lens, sharing that sight here with you.
I’ve been browsing the seed catalogs, looking forward to digging into the dirt in our two raised beds in the backyard again…. we learned something from one of you readers, can’t remember which one, I apologize. Our tomatoes didn’t do so great last year, kinda wishy washy, despite our best efforts. We have always used the same raised bed for the tomatoes, did not know you should rotate their home year to year. We’re aware of crop rotation, makes perfect sense. We will fortify the soil with aged horse and rabbit manure again this year, too…and indeed.. ROTATE.
I love these particular seed catalogs, the photography is beautiful and they sell some interesting exotics and heirloom varieties.
Look at this beautiful glass gem corn…..
The description..
Amazing color! Indescribably beautiful flint or popcorn comes in an endless range of colors. Translucent kernels really do shine brilliantly like glass—on the cob they resemble strands of glass beads! The 3-8” ears are consummately decorative, but edible and delicious as well.
I usually pick one or two new things to try – sometimes it’s a success, sometimes not so much. Melons have never been happy in our garden patch, we’re assuming the soil isn’t sandy enough and we have tried the tips and tricks, including added sand to the soil, placing the plants on mounds well spaced, etc. Same for carrots, and that’s a bummer as we have people, horses and a rabbit who would love the home grown variety. Last year I tried growing two rows of purple carrots – we had a stunted lot, but even those were a delicious sweet carrot taste. I believe I planted them too close together and the soil wasn’t soft far enough down in the beds for them to reach and grow. Strawberries are always eaten by rabbits and birds before we get to enjoy many of them so we gave that up. Corn has been a learning experience, to say the least.
The Mr. loves his beans and peas – the standard variety. I’d like to give these a try this year – tender and superbly delicious sounds good to me! .. and they’re beautiful.
And look at this “Violet Sparkle” Pepper….
I’m giving this a go as well.
Staples in our little garden are peppers, tomatoes, parsley, onions, basil, peas, cucumbers, eggplant, yellow squash and a few rows of corn out beyond the fence that are always iffy because we have yet to master happy corn growing. When we drive by fields and fields and fields full of healthy, happy corn, we say.. surely we can get this right for our little patch. Jeez! The secret is somewhere in the amount of corn you grow – they love proper pollination and mass production. They are clearly not happy planted in little patches without the proper space between and plenty of friends for cross pollination. The corn we’ve managed to grow looks stunted more often than not. We might try again, hopefully with better results this year and a better game plan.
Looking out the kitchen porch sliders, here’s the current view of our garden… 32 degrees, back to the norms for late February, rain-snow-rain in the forecast. We live about 4 miles in from the coast, a slow rise that reaches our hill at about 400 feet above sea level. The scent of the sea is in the air this morning. T find it refreshing, invigorates the soul. My husband teases me often about this – he says “You have a differently look in your eyes when we’re down by the water or the seamist reaches the farm. ”
I know it’s origin…. It’s called Peace.
If you haven’t tried gardening in the past and have a bit of the winter blues, start planning for your little patch of garden space, give it a go. Apartment or condo dweller? Not a problem – roof tops, window sills, little terraces, decks and even fire escapes can hold a few pots of something to grow. It feels good to nurture something that will in turn nurture you.
My gardening friends – any tips you want to share? I’m all ears – not of corn, though.. apparently.
