I am so thankful for my sister-in-law being here so she can sit with Dad while the rest of us can freely get our work done. What a tremendous blessing this has been. By the way, it is her birthday today and we hope to not be so busy that we forget to to sing her Happy Birthday Day!!
A few years back we acquired some crab grass in our garden. Now, crab grass is high in protein and an excellent livestock fed, but it is a nightmare in the garden if you do not get it out when it is small and the roots are not too deeply spread, otherwise it makes a lovely green carpet that is next to impossible to remove without destroying the plants it grows around. In addition to this, I let the cilantro come up freely among three rows, so I had crab grass and cilantro growing into a forest…Cilantro is in the same family as carrot and the entire plant is edible. It also has a thick heavy tap root like a carrot which makes removing it with a hoe a bit more of a chore. But I got it done. This is about the third year I have done this and I am firmly resolved to making a “cilantro bed” in a different location. I have some areas that have shade from the trees and I plan to utilize one of those spots for a couple of rotating cilantro beds.—the goal being able to harvest at “salsa making” season, instead of weeks before.
The daughter that likes to mow did the grass chore and rebuilt a failed compost bi on Monday. (It rained on the last one before we got it covered.) I believe “making dirt” an essential skill and have taught my daughters the basics and now training this middle one to refine the skill. My two week “grass clippings to dirt method” is not labor free but fast and efficient.
We keep looking around for ways to do and make things less “energy efficient” (human energy) so I have several “must get done” items such as building an entirely new strawberry bed dedicated to just strawberries. When I started growing strawberries it was at my mother’s insistence. I had never grown them, didn’t have a clue to really the best method so we bought some plants and stuck them in ground. Well the grass took them over and so in order to save the plants I moved them to the top of the garden… Since then I have endeavored to go more “organic and I have let a good clover barrier grow around the garden. This spring this barrier has grown into the strawberry row. Clover has a tenacious root system and not easily removed without tilling. Also, I now better understand how to grow strawberries and realize that the dedicated bed method is far superior to having them in a row within the garden.
That is the fun part about gardening and working with the soil, you are always learning better and more efficient ways. I know so much more than I did years ago but still feel I have a lot to learn. I also know that everyone has their own opinion about what works best, but dirt and gardening is individual. No two people have the same dirt and plant nutritional needs. One man will tell you all you need are wood chips, another a space filled with buckets, and others have great sheet composting methods. In reality, good gardening requires an understanding of what your plants need to be healthy. Like the body, soil needs a balance of nutrients, and different plants require different nutrients, thus making the need for a balance in the soil so very important. The other things they need are correct amounts of rain and soil temperatures.
So far our rain levels have been just right to cause the plants roots to dig a bit for water but they have not had to suffer. Last year our garden did poorly because we had too much rain and the plants failed to put down roots deep enough to dig for nutrients in the soil.
Well, with these thoughts, it is time for me to get moving, I have several cabbages to transplant today and it is my goal to get some more carrots, beets, and summer greens planted before the next forecasted rain.