Finally got a break in the rain, so out I went to work on the herbs. Got the astrological section cleaned up and about half of the relaxation station. That section needs more plants, and the astro section has some missing holes as well. Pennyroyal (of all things) disappeared this year, or perhaps is just late emerging. I also lost a poppy, easy enough to replace, I think Lauri has one I don't have.
Mowed, weed wacked, cleaned out the sandbox, and planted a couple tomatoes. Trying to get all my stray plants IN the ground this week so they can all get watered in and established. I'm notoriously slow at this. I put them all on top of the well house so they are front-and-center, and trying to just tackle them one at a time...
Let the teenage chickens out for free range time again today. They are getting the hang of it. Flopsy is being a good mother hen and seems to supervise them a bit.
Sam came up over the weekend and brought Acer 'FranksRed' which is my memorial tree for Frankie. It's about a 14' sapling, and was really root-bound. We dug it in outside the herb garden in the front field where I can see it easily from the computer, kitchen, and front porch. I spread out a bag of steer manure, laid out a flattened cardboard box, and covered that with wood chips to keep the weeds at bay. Gary ran a hose out to it so I can keep it hydrated. It is right in line to block the neighbor's runway lights*, and is just starting to leaf out. Sam also cleared out the choking crabgrass around the katsura tree and I gave it a similar treatment.
*I sure don't understand the propensity of night lights on our road. I think we are perhaps the only people who don't have a mercury vapor come-on-at-dusk light. The people directly in front of us and the ones behind and to the right are both lit up like Christmas trees, they must have at least a dozen lights all around their houses and yards. What are they afraid of? I much prefer the light of the moon.
Back when the herb garden was a huge vegetable garden, I had a good patch of asparagus. It wasn't the most productive (and I know it takes time) but I liked the ferny look when it bolted. I've decided to plant the inside south border of the herbs with asparagus, and alternate the outside border with vegetables and/or flowers. This year will be spuds, and I may also add some nasturtiums throughout the whole bed for color.
So, today I cleaned out what will be the asparagus bed. As with all the beds in the herb garden, it involved a lot of 'sodding' rather than weeding, which sure gets heavy. I do like the grass paths, but they tend to encroach on the herb beds throughout the season and I have to be pretty diligent about only allowing the paths to be about 22-24" wide. That allows me to run my baby electric lawnmower around the paths in two swipes.
Note to self: last year I planted spuds and sunflowers and have now read they don't do well together. I can likely confirm that as neither did well for me and I usually don't have any problems with either one. Wonder why some plants don't get along.
Dandelions are in full bloom, so time to plant spuds. Dug up the south border of the herb garden and bought a bunch of random spuds from the feed store. Interestingly, they have about 10 different half barrels of spuds, most were .99 per pound, with some more fancy expensive ones. I just picked 3-4 of each of the .99 barrels - red, white, yellow, and some fingerlings. Was chastised for not putting them in separate bags, apparently for inventory reasons. I asked why they couldn't just order more or note when each batch was sold out, and the clerk went on a rant about the new corporate mentality -- the buyers never set foot in the store, they only go by computer input. He's actually my favorite clerk, I think he hates the new management as much as I do. (Why do they sell door knobs at a feed store? And why can't we have the useful carts back?) Anyway, I apologized and will hopefully remember to somehow separate them out next season without ending up with 7 super-duper paper bags with 3 spuds in each one. I guess I'll just go get them, carry them inside, weigh them, then put them in one bag. I don't care one way or the other what I grow, I just want a nice variety.
I'm considering trying asparagus again on the other side of that bed. Haven't grown that for ages, although I do think it grows better in eastern Washington. Even if it's not real productive, it's a nice feathery look when it bolts.
Also planted out a hydrangea from the PNW exchange, and watered everything else. It was a record breaking warm day, up in the 70s.
