I Mentioned That My Garden Was Getting Overgrown

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Bob Bauer
June 27, 2017 (Last Updated: ) | Reading Time: 2 minutes

June 27, 2017

I mentioned that my garden was getting overgrown. I've lost my hula hoe in it. I usually lean it up against something so I can find it by the handle, but it must have fallen down and gotten overgrown by weeds and vines. Luckily I've got a machete in the greenhouse that I can use to hack my way through the jungle until I find it. The machete works well on the artichoke stalks too, if they are an inch or so, but any larger requires the hand pull saw. The stalks don't decompose very quickly so I don't put them in the compost pile..

They go in the yard trimmings pile down by the creek where the Brussels sprouts stalks are. Very little is going in the compost pile this year with my garden waste mulching project going on. The green beans benefited from the lettuce leaf mulch so much that they grew over it. I have to lift the bean stalks now to tuck leaves under them. It's not so unsightly now..

June 28, 2017

There was a gray, fuzzy, curled up sleeping critter in my raccoon trap this morning. I thought it was a neighbors cat because it was so furry. Turns out it was a possum. I've read that they aren't really considered a pest, but one look at my still smashed down strawberry patch convinces me otherwise. All of the mulch flippjng he's done has been extremely annoying even though it he!ps me determine where water needs to go..

If he's been eating slugs and pill bugs I should be grateful, but I suspect that it's earthworms he's been after. My son lives on the river and releases possums when they get in his trap because he says they don't cause problems, so I let my possum go next to his garage. (Just kidding) ..

June 29, 2017

I pushed my empty wheelbarrow up against my five foot tall kale bushes that were full of seed pods, bent the bushes down over it, and whacked them with a rake a few times. I now have a lifetime supply of kale seeds. If you want to try to overwinter kale now is the time to plant seeds. Last year l planted seeds July 1st and had plants about a foot tall and bushy before the cold weather stopped their growth. They looked decorative all winter and when spring came started growing again. They were in competition with the Swiss chard for the dinner table, and very much we!come..

I sprinkled seeds in a half inch deep furrow, covered with fine soil, watered them in thoroughly, and placed a board over the row. After three days the board came off and shortly thereafter sprouts emerged. They got thinned to four inches apart when they were two inches tall and transplanted when they were four inches tall. The transplants needed shade for awhile. 10/10 will do again..

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