The potatoes, squash, garlic, salad greens, and many more veggies are simply roaring out of the ground. All that heavy ground prep that I did last year as my alter ego "the human mole" seems to have paid off big time. Tomatoes are going in the greenhouse. Flower boxes of tulips are painting everything yellow, coral, and pink. So far; so good.
Angel has some asparagus in (won't be able to eat that for a couple of years) and some chard (which is thriving). Those are on the north side of the property -- sort of behind the garage. That spot gets good sun only from about April through September, but we're told that's plenty of sun for these two plants.
We have blueberry and raspberry plants in. All the blueberry and non-local raspberry canes surrounded by cylinders of chicken wire to keep the deer off. Angel got some little strawberry plants in as well.
We talked to a guy named Tim about having the property mowed a couple of times per week. The Amigo's knees just can't take pushing the electric mower up and down the hills, and I can't afford a ride-able tractor/mower right now. I think we'll let Tim's team take care of the basic mowing for a while. It'll make things look better and let me spend time on some other projects.
There is still a part of the main garden that needs bird netting. Maybe I'll get to that tomorrow. Also, Ray-the-contractor promises that he'll finish the gates for the front porch and get them up next week. Early next week. That'll close off the last potential deer access to the main garden. So far the critters have shied away from walking up the steps, onto the porch, and into the garden. There is such a big salad bar for them without moving into a confined space like that, that they don't seem to be interested, but we can't count on that long term.
On other fronts, neighbors, new friends, and random people encountered on walks have given us cuttings and bulbs from their gardens. We've put in literally dozens of ornamental plants without spending any money on them. It's so great. Most of the plants have taken to their new spots very well. In a couple of years, even the yard may look decent.
We're getting close to the first phase of gardening drawing to a close. It feels good.
There is another retaining wall to build. And there is much more of the property to develop into food-producing land. In a micro-scale effort like what Angel and I are doing, it seems very manageable to do this in a way that actually improves the quality of the soil. It really is nothing more than time and money limited -- but then most things are, right?
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