1 post tagged “"carpal tunnel"”
I stink at keeping a diary. Yet I write reams online every day. So when I want to know what was going on during a certain period in my life, I look at posts in some of my online communities. To learn from what I observe in my garden, I have to remember it. Since I have difficulty doing that, I've started looking up posts about my garden. this is likely to be shorter post because my right wrist is killing me this weekend, but I'm going to try to make a garden blog.
Today I weeded one half of one of four long raised beds. They are overrun with weeds because I couldn't get the help I needed this winter when I needed it. Luckily I had just purchased an ergonomic v-hoe, and it made things go faster. It was still exhausting work. Since my right wrist has been hurting me I didn't want to do it but I just took delivery of some seed potatoes and they really couldn't be saved too much longer. I adore potatoes but if I'm good about going low-glycemic, I can't have them. I selected La Ratte fingerling and Peruvian Purple, both of which have less starch.
I consulted my "Great Garden Companions" book to see what would go well with potatoes as well as how to plant potatoes in the first place. I dug long deep rows, piling the dirt in-between. The idea is that as the potatoes grow, you'll pile more dirt over them. Presumably this is so they can develop more roots, and thus more tubers. Peas and bush beans are recommended companion plants. I'd already started some Taichung snow peas and they were large enough that I could transplant them. Since I have no bush beans yet, I planted the snow peas along the northern edge of the raised bed so their height wouldn't shade anything important. I have some Montpelier beans in the seed starter and we'll see if they last long enough to make it to the bed.
Last year I had a All-Season Burpless cucumber in that bed. The bed had been partially filled with compost from my bin, including some raw redwood dust. The cucumber was eventually hit by a fungus. Digging today I could see bits of white fungus in the soil. I think I've learned why compost is supposed to be fully composted before being put in your garden - it will attract the fungus/bacteria/insects that help decompose it and those things might not be so great for your plants.
Because all my importuning of the landscaper fell on deaf ears, the fruit trees were not treated with dormant oil nor ant-fungal copper spray when it was critical for them to get it. The new Eva's Pride peach has a bad peach leaf curl infection as does the unknown peach variety that came with the house. Luckily none of the other peach family trees have gotten it so far.
The roses that came with the house died because the landscaper didn't replant them elsewhere. They just died in their containers. I'm hoping the two mulberry trees I have in containers do okay. There was a period where we had that freak heat wave and I forgot to water them. The Morus alba "Pakistan" has set a nice amount of fruit given how few limbs it has. The Morus nigra is only just now budding. Speaking of setting fruit, I'm excited that the Royal apricot (not sure whether it's really Royal or Blenheim because so many nurseries mix them up) has set a a lot of fruit. I don't see as many pollinators as I'd like despite the fact that I have a more diverse wildlife community in my backyard since converting it from the dead lawn that was here when we moved in. The "Flavor Delight" aprium hasn't got any flowers so either it is a late season thing or more likely it's too young.
I'm seeing a decent amount of ladybugs (twice-stabbed and the Chinese variety...I never see our native orange ladybugs). They like the artichokes just like they did last year. Otherwise I see them a lot in the undergrowth of weeds. Which sucks because where I need them are on the roses, rhubarb and other plants that the aphids love. When I dug the raised bed today I saw a couple earthworms (I always feel horribly when I cut one by accident while doing something invasive with a shovel) and a couple Jerusalem crickets.
I'm having to learn the difference between annuals, biannuals, and perennials. (EIther that or which things die easily.) Many of the herbs planted are dead this year: Basil, stevia, lemongrass... Some things come back after being cut back but others don't. I've also had the weirdness of seed that I spread from the "Drama Queen" poppy coming up and making tall poppy plants that so far show no signs of flowers.
