Garden Today

The last couple of days have been brilliant.  Today the sun is shining brightly.  At 3:30PM, we'd already generated over 20 KWH of energy and the array was still producing over 2 KW of power.  I'm pretty sure we could do better if I were to get up on the roof and carefully clean the PV panels.  If I approached the whole thing from the back (north) side of the house it would probably be safe.

At the right, you can see some of the rows of salad greens in the main garden.  As I type this, Ray is outside putting up the final set of gates.  This is a good thing.  At lunch time I went out to check the mail.  "Bambi" was standing in the flower bed that's on the NW side of the driveway. S/he looked at me as I came down the stairs.  She looked at me very calmly.  I had to get within about 8 feet of her before she decided to saunter off into the neighbor's yard. Yes, it is a Very Good Thing that Ray is putting up the gates.  "Bambi" and her friends could make short work of the garden.  I shudder to think what could happen if the neighbors' goats get out.

At the left, you can see some little chard plants and some potatoes that are clearly thriving.  Some of them came up outside my bird netting, so we'll have to see if the crows have a go at them.  I'm hoping that since potatoes grow underground, we'll be okay.  

Last night I cooked up some chard we got from the co-op.  I washed and cut the chard into manageable pieces.  Then I put some canola oil in a skillet.  I added a splash of sesame oil and some herbs for flavor.  I cooked the greens gently -- all the time thinking about the Steve James recording of "Greasy Greens" from his "Not for Highway Use" CD.  They weren't very greasy, but they sure were good.  Later in the summer we're going to enjoy eating from this garden.

The soil seems to drain extremely well.  We've had a couple of good rainstorms in the past week, but there's never been any standing water in the main garden.

Tomorrow, I'm going to re-bed the worms (if any are still alive, that is).  I think I've got some ideas on how to make them more comfortable.  Hope I'm right.