Photo notes 4/20/2020

I think I'll document the state of things, every now and then, so that I can see how far the garden has come.  Also, to note observations or lessons learned.

West side

The thank-you garden is a few days' planted now.  The corn got a little less green so I'd better get the clover in there soon.  I'll seed around the corn first and wait until the carrots sprout before seeding the rest.  Oh!  Wasn't I gonna put peas in there between the corn?  Need to remember to experiment with watering with EM-1 every week and alternating with mycorrhizals.  I'm considering this my pilot project for my pea patch maintenance business I hope to run next year.  I thought a lot about how to prepare a bed.  There's Charles Dowding's method, which I'm using alot in the terraces, with and without cardboard.  This method is just using ground that was covered in wood chips.  I'd rather have more time and be able to leave black plastic or a wool carpet on the ground for a few months.  I'll never solarize again--that was dumb and killed all microbes.  I will definitely put cardboard under wood chips for paths at clients' homes.

The 2 artichoke got munched.  What a plant.  You get maybe a couple heads per plant.  Not like cherry tomatoes where you get tonnes per plant.  This is in an annexed part of the thank-you garden because of the spacing requirements.  The bamboo here didn't sprout.  I think the wood chips are lacking fungi.

North side

Explain to me how this works: I bung some sticks in a last-minute-chosen recepticle (recycling bin), and they take off and sprout.

I carefully follow instructions and get nothing.

I also have a bucket at the front of the house where I have the tree cuttings from.the plant swap that I barely remember and they're all sprouting except the corkscrew willow.  And, the regular willow that I took from Helge's place that's been neglected in a garbage bag in the garage--sprouting!!  

Ditto with this walnut that a squirrel planted.  I found two other walnut sprouts in the spot where the compost pit is now, which I moved here.  But if I try to sprout walnuts, I get nothing.  I hate this hobby sometimes.

Still haven't finished securing the compost bins.  I also need to get the perforated pipe made so that I can get the first pile finished.

East side, next to the house

I'm facing east and photographing from north to south.

There's work to be done here.  I need a final home for the bench and the plants that I want to keep.  There's a mock orange that smells amazing in summer, and some others in here.  But it's all in the path of the future driving path and living pool.

Gotta move the trash and the old burn pile too, to unburden the drain field and keep it healthy.

Gotta clear up the raised beds here to unburden the drain field.  The strawberries are blooming though.  And there's mache (corn salad) that I want to go to seed.  Might need to postpone this job.

Here's the trash on the south side.  Just wood sticks to make a decision about.  This is on the future driving path along the south property line.

Was storing woodchips and poop here.  Now there's a load of forest duff from Cheryl's dog rescue property.  Might mix it all together and let it compost in place, in a location that I want to clear of vegetation, like my future tropical plant collection on the south side of the house by ths chimney!  

South side, terraces

These are the first year's beds, mostly planted.  Next year, I'll polish the retaining wood, get coconut fiber mats to cover them and seed with vetch, and make all beds as wide as possible, with paths that make mini-beds a comfortable width.  I want cardboard and woodchips as the paths, and something pretty growing in front of the wood.

This was a flash of insight.  I wanted a deep bed for carrots, but don't have enough compost to extend it to meet up with the grass, so I buttressed it with wood chips.  I wonder if it'll work.  Oxygen will have no trouble getting into the soil.

The last bed will take the longest to fill, but at least I can drive up to it soon.  Looking north...

Looking south...

East side, low end, food forest and fedge

It looks like nothing.  If only you could see it in my head.  Lots of time and work to do.  I want to clear out the path that splits the mirrored food forest paths first.  Also need to berm the south edge to make it ready for fedge plantings.  And move the drivable path to put in one of the ponds.  

For food forest plantings, I can weed whack down the greenery now and sow seeds.  I'll just keep pickimg up plants when I can.

Looking west...

Looking east...

South side

Dammit.  These are gonna get 8 feet tall again.  I didn't move them in time.  Wonder if I still can.  At least it was there long enough to give me seeds.  Seeds I haven't sown yet.  Bah!

Also need to get these in pots or in the ground.  Wonder which is better for tree cuttings the first year.

Hope the cherry fruits this year.  It skipped last year.  This is another example of accidental planning.  I was spitting seeds out on the day we moved in.

I didn't photograph the future tropical plant area.  It's got grap evergreens, and rhodies and azaleas.  Bleh.