Perennials are Growing and Seeds are Sprouting!

When we planted all of our annuals last year, we hoped that everything would survive the winter and come back now, in spring. With the wicked winter and the several feet of snow that covered our (sticks) fruit trees, I wondered how they would do. Most everything looks dead in winter and it's hard to tell what is happening.

It all worked!

Grape vines, kiwi vines, the fruit trees (one apple is flowering already). Jostaberry, Currents, Blueberries and Strawberries all have flowers and are starting fruit. Sea Kale, Sorrel, and Turkish Rocket, Ramps, Horseradish, Mint root and 3 different mints - all are thriving.

Turkish Rocket

Sorrel

Dwarf Comfrey

In our beds, the planted radishes, carrots, potatoes and arugula are already up and growing. In my flower pots, cutting flowers and poppies mixed with marigolds and kale - all coming up. Even the moon flowers and morning glories in a planter are sprouting.

Volunteers? A lone sunflower already 6 inches tall, a random potato in the back corner, and a bed full of what looks like cherry tomatoes and amaranth - where they grew last year. 

We have already found a couple of critters in the garden: a sighting of the first little toad - who may, or may not be living under the dill plant...and a chipmunk in the wood pile. An unusual sight in the city, but welcome because I know each of them serve a purpose in this garden.

Spiders are weaving webs and we work at finishing our plantings. In a couple of weeks, the tomatoes will go into their beds and we are rotating arugula and radishes to keep them growing all summer. Then there is the Corn, Squash and drying bean bed - and I still need to find where I will put the Mammoth Sunflowers this year. These are the kind of decisions I love to make!

We made a change as far as our diet and started buying almost all of our meat and some greens from Mass Local Food. They also offer some plants, so we bought a Raspberry and added it to the garden.

All remains to be seen, but so far, I feel like I am coming alive with each of the plants I find growing of its own accord, and each I plant. Nature is a miraculous system that only needs the right conditions and will thrive endlessly!

Sweet Potato Slips and Lupine

It seems that I would be posting the same few pictures of the same SOP (Standard Operating Procedure).  This bed of Sweet Potatoes began the same as the other beds, cardboard on the grass, soil, manure and then we used a stick to poke holes in through the soil (and cardboard) and put the Sweet Potato slips (Johnny's Selected Seeds) into the holes, filled them with water and then covered them with soil. And now we wait.

Again, it's just the beginning. But I can look out the window into a yard that fills more and more each day with green...what a beginning it is!

We used the log near the "dry" river bed

Lupine starting to grow

Around the fruit trees we have Vetch, Nasturtium, Clover, and a perennial Lupine.  Today is the first time Lupine appeared! All of these plants are meant to feed the soil, keep moisture near the ground for the fruit trees and attract good insects for pest control and pollination. Oh - the Nasturtium is also completely edible, stems, leaves, and flowers. So we'll have lots of greens until next year when we let the fruit grow =)

Sunday, Sunday

I woke up this morning to the sound of Rob building a fire in the wood stove and soon after, the smell of Maple and Oak burning. There is nostalgia in the smell of burning wood. It reminds me of the years of Girl Scout camp and 4-H adventures, camping with family, camping our way across the US with the youth group/singing group I belonged to in high school. And now, it is how we primarily heat and cook. There is also a basic instinctive security in knowing that we can be warm and cook and provide those things with our own hands.

I felt the pull toward the computer, on-line news, social networks, email, etc. and decided that today I was going to spend the day the way I would have before all of those things became so entrenched in my life. 

Beginning with breakfast: I cooked Swedish Pancakes  and ate them with a little grape jelly and some fruit. I am planning that next year I will be making my own jelly with the Concord Grapes that will be growing in the garden. After breakfast, I cleaned up and sat down to read Countryside Magazine. I have been reading it for years and for each year that passes, the articles and suggestions have become more relevant to changes we have been making in our home and garden.

This is the pace of the day – do a project and then rest. The balance of this approach makes it possible to get so much done without physical strain and stress. It also allows for the flexibility to change the “plan” mid course if something more interesting or useful presents itself. There are some “have to” things that need to get done today, such as eating, showering, laundry, gathering kindling, etc., but all of the rest is flexible and allows for creativity and inspiration, should it appear in the course of our work.  It also allows time to rest and enjoy the things we have completed. 

So I start the laundry, and take a shower and get ready to go on a hike. We did our Ranger walk through of some of Crow Hill – the area that was burned is evident, but already starting to green with new plants. We worked on clearing out some Oak, gathering kindling and some wood for fires for the next few days. Crow Hill is part of a conservation land – with the Greater Worcester Land Trust – and we asked and have permission to clear the trails and remove firewood (only Oak because of the Asian Longhorn Beetle). Our work to clear the trails and remove the wood, especially in such a dry Spring, helps to prevent more fires. I used two old belts to bundle up kindling and carried it back to the house. Rob carried two larger branches to cut up into firewood. It feels good to work in this way! There are blueberries growing everywhere as a result of the burning. I am looking forward to foraging in a few weeks. It makes me so happy to be in the woods .

We returned home with our gatherings and had some lunch and relaxed. 

The next task was to build the 4x8 bed that will hold Sunflowers, Corn and Squash.  We didn’t dig this one – but instead built it up with soil, cow manure and vermiculite. Once it was finished, we covered it with straw and it waits for us to plant.  We also did the daily watering from the rain barrel and looked over the plants that are growing, did a little grass mowing and trimmed the grass around the flower beds.

Measuring out the Area

Supplies - Hay, soil, cow manure, bed frames

Added Cardboard to kill grass/weeds below.

Added Hay

Soil over the hay, and vermiculite

Added cow manure and the rest of the soil

Completed Bed - Waiting for planting of Corn and Sunflowers

The day was super productive and fun! 

When it is paced in such a way, so much can be finished, 

as well as enjoyed.  

The day ended after dinner with a glass of wine and looking over what was completed. 

It is so important to work and then enjoy what you have labored for.

There are signs all over the garden of growth - the fruit trees are budding and getting leaves,

almost all of the herb seeds are sprouting in the herb spiral and soon more of the perennial plants will arrive and we will be finding homes for them.

I find myself often standing in the window - looking out over the backyard and

imagining what it will be like when the trees grown in and the vegetables grow.

What an incredible life to live...

Fruit Trees!

Some of our fruit trees arrived from Stark Bro's last week.

Here is the process we used to dig through the cement-like sod and plant them. And by we - I mean...I helped with two of the apple trees and then I was done. I was fairly pleased to help with that much. Rob finished the digging and planting which took 5 hours in the dark and somewhat rainy night to complete.

www.starkbros.com

Soaking the pear trees for an hour before planting

Soaking Apple trees

Garden soil to bulk up the roots once the holes were dug.

Digging around the hole where the tree will be planted.

 The area around the trees was cleared of sod and prepared to plant Nasturtium, vetch, clover, perennial Lupine around the trees to feed and shelter them and then they were mulched to keep the water we do get in one place and to help them grow.

Roots!

buried and watered in

Dwarf Pear is furthest away and then two apples.

After the trees were watered in, then more tree soil and mulch we have been "making" by our work in the yard was added on top of the mound.  A ditch was also added around it to hold the moisture and prevent grass from coming back into the circle. 

Two more Apples and a dwarf pear in the far distance near the house.

All of the pear trees are dwarf (8-12ft) 

and the apples are semi-dwarf (10-15ft)

They are all from Stark Bros :

Moonglow Pear - Dwarf

Stark Honeysweet Pear - Dwarf

Staring Delicious Pear - Dwarf

Starkspur Golden Delicious Apple - Semi-Dwarf Supreme

Starkrimson Red Delicious Apple - Semi-Dwarf Supreme

Starkspur Arkansas Black Apple - Semi-Dwarf Supreme

Starkspur Red Rome Beauty Apple - Semi-Dwarf Supreme

Next: Blueberries, an Almond tree, potatoes and planting seeds in the Herb Spiral. It's all an experiment and this is the busiest time we will have for planting and preparing and setting up the foundation.

Fun stuff! =)