garden, june 3

It’s June. How did that happen? The solstice is coming, and I’m starting to feel a little bit frantic with how behind I am. I read other gardening blogs and see the size of their starts, the seeds they have already put out, and feel the chase of the chant, behind, behind, behind.

The last week yielded a lot of forward progress. My dear boyfriend went and picked up a load of garden soil, a bale of straw, and a wheelbarrow for me, so now planting can resume in earnest:

Sorry for the crummy picture; despite the longer days, the sun was already going down when I took it.

 

That’s a cubic yard of soil, my friends.

So this evening I moved a good portion of it into a second bed that I dug out a few weeks ago, made a few mounds, and planted zucchini. As the sun went down, I busted out my ever-so-stylish headlamp so I could continue working in the dark. I built a sandbank around the potatoes (more on those in a moment), started mulching the plants in the big raised bed, and watered.

Geez I’m nerdy

Ah, yes. The potatoes. I have never grown potatoes before. I had some in the house that were sprouting, and I had read somewhere that potatoes like to grow in compost. So, in the slapdash way that I am a little ashamed has my method this year, I dug some holes, filled them with compost, and stuck the potatoes in there. Much to my surprise, they started growing not long after. After mentioning this to another gardener, she gave me some tips on how to encourage them to produce. I need to keep heaping soil and mulch on top of the greens, leaving just the growing tips exposed, and build up the mounds throughout the season. Tonight I added a good layer of soil and compost, and tomorrow I’ll add straw. And maybe more soil.

Potatoes with the fresh soil heaped on them. Much bigger than they appear.

What else? I planted more peas in the spots where it seemed they weren’t going to come up. I have to get my melons, pumpkins, summer squash, cucumbers, and other sun-and-heat loving plants into the ground in the next few days. And see if I can find a spot that lettuce and spinach will thrive — I’ve not had any luck with spinach this year. Tomatoes, on the other hand, are popping up everywhere — in the container where I planted lettuce mix, in my rosemary, in random heaps of yard waste…

Hopefully it will mean an abundance is coming. It’s going to be in the 90s tomorrow, and I’m hoping that a late spring storm will pass through and soak everything for a day. Here’s to hoping, abundance, and gratitude for what the garden will bring.