Every Gardener's Dream

Now I don't know about the part of the country in which you garden, but up here what passes for soil is primarily rocks and a little dirt (little being the operative word).  The dirt that you can find is either heavy, red clay or what the locals refer to as "rotten rock" . . . a label which does not conjure up visions of nutrient-rich, loamy stuff conducive to growing carrots . . . or much of anything else.

Last fall, hubby and I located a great, huge pile of lovely, wonderful, rich black dirt.  I told him, "I want that!  I want a LOT of that!"

So early this spring, we looked into getting some of it transported into our yard.  We talked with our good neighbor (who has the heavy equipment business) about hauling it for us.  It happens he and his wife have been wanting to get into gardening and have been developing a small plot behind their house.  Hauling some of the soil for us would be no problem, D said, plus he'd be interested in getting some of it for their garden area.  A win-win situation.  

We had to wait for the huge pile of black dirt to thaw.  This required a bit of patience since our cold winter weather lasted so long into spring this year.  But finally everything was in place and our dirt was scheduled to arrive.

This morning shortly before 8 a.m., we heard the rumble of one of D's dump trucks.

Oh, oh, oh!  Here it comes!  I was so excited!

Oh, my.  Will you look at that beautiful stuff.

A big bunch of that beautiful stuff!  (Suddenly, the soil we've built up in our pumpkin patch doesn't look so great, does it, Lisa?)

Five cubic yards of rich, black soil.  We got busy and wheelbarrowed it into all of the raised beds we replaced last year that ended up a little short on dirt.

Since the black dirt came from a swampy area, it was most likely on the acidic side so we spread wood ashes over the added dirt in the beds to add some alkalinity.  I'll till everything in before planting each bed.

There's still a lot of dirt left in the pile, but you can be sure I'll use every last bit of it . . . and be pickled tink to have it!!

Winter Might Be Gone, Summer Might Be Here

We had the temp reach into the low 70s yesterday.  It was almost more than we could take . . . a great adjustment to our bodies that were getting used to wearing multiple layers of clothing long after usually necessary.  'Twas, however, a glorious day and even the stiff breeze couldn't damper our spirits working outside.  It was wonderful.  (But just imagine how warm it would have felt without the wind!)

Today was full of sunshine although not nearly as warm as yesterday.  I still stripped down to my short sleeve t-shirt while working in the garden.

Papa Pea cultivated the whole field garden for me so now I can get those taters planted and trellises up and ready for pea planting.

He also ran the cultivator over the area that we've been prepping for two years for more blueberry and possibly haskap berry bushes.  We have six blueberry bushes ordered that we should be able to pick up this Saturday.  They will go in the cultivated area behind the third white stake you see in the above picture.  The three white stakes mark our little haskap berry bushes we planted last year.  I'm delighted to report they all made it through their first winter and are putting out new buds and leaves.

Maybe I should hold a contest to see what you all think these newly constructed frames are for.  They will eventually go in the garden when they're completed.  They still need to have screening attached to the sides and tops.  Any guesses?

If you read in a previous post about our new (and hopefully successful) idea of protecting broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbage from the dreaded cabbage moth that lays those dreaded eggs on such plants which hatch out into those dreaded worms that ultimately end up on my plate (eeeeeuuw!), you may have garnered a hint as to what these structures are for.

They will sit on top (and be fastened in some manner so they don't blow off into the next county) of 4' x 8' raised beds and the screening will keep the moths from getting to the plants underneath.  Clear as mud?  It will be more understandable once these contraptions are finished and in place.  I promise more pictures then.

I have now reached the bottom of my glass of white wine and I'm hoping I can stand up and make it into the kitchen to heat up some fish chowder for dinner.  Well, the chowder will be for my dinner.  When the chowder was served the first time around, Papa Pea saw a bone in a piece of the fish and will indulge in it no more.  (He had a really bad experience with a fish bone caught in his throat when he was a wee lad and it proved to be a traumatic experience for him.)  He has requested a cheese sandwich for dinner which I am glad to make for him.  If I can stand up and make it into the kitchen.

Tired, But a Good Tired

Got a lot done as far as inside chores went this morning, and then worked outside in the garden most of the afternoon.

The first raised bed of the year is planted and snuggled under a cold frame as we speak.  Our temps are still hovering around the 40s during the day.  If the sun is out it feels great but if not it's darn chilly.

I transplanted seven 4' long rows of lettuce, two 4' long rows of spinach, a row of arugula and some kale.  Had enough room left in the bed to plant one row of Swiss chard seeds.  From some reason the chard I planted inside didn't germinate.  If this row I planted today is a no-show, I'll know it's the seeds.

We still have some raised beds that are around 15 years old and need the wood replaced (before I plant in them this year) so we're working on getting new ones made.

Last year using the hoops and Abribon over the beds worked very well to produce worm-free broccoli and Brussels sprouts (hooray!) but we had a lot of trouble keeping it fastened down on the sides and ends.  This winter we came up with a new idea for trying to keep those *%^&#! cabbage moths out of our brassicas, so construction on those was started today also.  More on that later.

I complained this past weekend that our stash of blueberries in the freezer was long gone so a dear friend gifted me with half a gallon of them today from her freezer.  What a treat!  I have a blueberry pie in the oven right now.  (Smells pretty good, huh?)

Still have dishes to do, a shower to take and some relaxing to do before bedtime.  Sure does feel good to be working in the garden . . . even though it is a bit of a late start this year.

A Happy Mother's Day

My dear daughter invited me to go on an outing with a stop for a girls-only lunch today.

We drove up to a rustic, favorite restaurant of ours situated on the shore of an inland lake.  Lunch was as good as we had anticipated, and we got caught up on much talking, talking, talking.

After we ate, we took a walk out onto the floating dock into the lake.

Poor Tucker (who was with us but waited patiently in our vehicle while we ate) did NOT like the way the sections of the floating dock rocked back and forth, up and down.

This is a shot across the narrow bay we were on.  Yes, folks, it is the opening weekend of fishing up here in Minnesota.  Some of the lakes we saw were a little more open than others, but none were free of ice.

On our way home, we stopped at a lake that is a favorite of ours to fish and canoe.  I think it's safe to say that no one launched a fishing boat in here today.

It was a slow, fun, lazy, totally enjoyable day for this mom and her daughter.  Hope you had a good day, too.

A Saturday That Feels Like Sunday

You know how it is when you get confused as to what day of the week it is?  Like I am today?  Although more often than getting my weekend days confused, I'm likely to say a Wednesday (for instance) doesn't feel like a Wednesday.  (Hmmm, just what does a Wednesday feel like?)

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One of the things we've been working on lately is getting the fruit trees pruned . . . a task that needs to be done every year, usually in the spring before the trees bud out.  (Incidentally, Tami over at 
500 Dollar Tomato had a post today that contained a link to a good video on thinning "fruitlets" that led me to another video on pruning fruit trees.  It made me wonder if we've been doing it wrong all these years.  Geesh.)

During his high school years, my hubby worked for a man who owned a huge apple orchard and who vehemently maintained there were 52 days each year when you should never prune the trees.  Sundays.

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What's our weather like today?  C-O-L-D.  Our high temp was 44° which isn't too bad but couple that with a stiff wind, only a few quick glimpses of sunshine and it feels not nice out there.  Plus, we've had snow flurries during the cloudy periods on and off all day.  Yep, honest-to-goodness snow flurries.  Nothing that has mounted up on the ground but it's making everyone shake their heads and 'bout give up on the hope of warm weather ever arriving.

* * * * * * * *

It's now 5:30 p.m. and I have no idea what to fix for dinner.  For company last night I served a large chicken pot pie made in a 9 x 13" pan and, silly me, had hopes we would have leftovers for today, but the five of us polished it off with very little trouble.

Grilled cheese sandwiches, anyone?

Getting My Fresh Air . . . and a Winner!

Thanks to all of you who entered for the chance to win the Go Wild with Quilts - Again! book I offered.  It was great to see so many of you eager to have a new quilting book.  Almost (but not quite) as good as getting some new fabric!

But just to raise the level of suspense a little before announcing the winner (remember I live in the woods and don't get out much), let me first tell you what's been going on around here during the last couple of days of nice weather.

Tuesday I got the whole strawberry patch cleaned up and weeded.  I think it was the first time in years that I've done the whole job in one day.  Lots (and lots) of bending, crawling, getting up and down to empty the weed bucket into the compost, and digging with a trowel.  I'm lucky in that my back rarely bothers me, but Wednesday morning I thought my right wrist might be broken.  All the trowel work, you know.  No, it was nothing as serious as that, but the wrist did give me a little twinge every now and then all day.  But only when I moved it.  We still have to go get several bags of wood shavings from a local sawmill to use as mulch, but that finishing up part of the job is simple compared to what had to be done before the shavings can be spread.

Wednesday Papa Pea and I attacked the raspberry patch and just about completely denuded it.  Actually, all we did was to cut out all the old, dead canes, but as usual, it looks as if the canes left won't possibly be able to produce an ample crop of raspberries this summer.  (Have no fear, as they will, prolific little plants that they are.)  Yesterday we spread some lovely compost at the base of all the canes and then I retied them to the supports in the hopes of keeping them contained in some sort of organized manner.  However, when those canes get growing they have a mind of their own, and I've found it's hard to keep them from forming an impenetrable jungle out there.

Yesterday afternoon I did some more repotting of started seedlings.  (Isn't it amazing how they keep outgrowing their little pots and seem to multiply under those lights at night?)  I am waiting to get through this weekend (ice and snow supposedly coming . . . yep, kinda unbelievable, isn't it?) before putting a lot of the seedlings out under a cold frame.

Okay, I know some of you are getting really tired of not hearing what you came to hear.

Drum roll, please.  Wish I had a dozen of these books to send out so each and every one of you could have a copy.  But I don't so had to draw just one name.  The lucky winner is . . . 

Michelle

Michelle, if you will go over to the Contact Me button on my right hand side bar and send me your mailing address, I'll get the book off to you asap.  Thanks again to all of you who left a comment for this give-a-way.