Ungulate House Garden: Febuary 1999
22 February 1999
Even as our brief warm spell disappeared to be replaced with swirling snowflakes
and bitter breezes, there has been progress in the garden over the past
weekend.
first, the shopping
I'll never really be what they call "a stylish girl" as long as Home Depot
is on my list of top 20 stores. Sure, it's no Ikea or Powell's, but they
have lots of wonderful toys, and they even have a dyke aisle! (Well, what
would you call the aisle that stocks gloves, tool belts and lubricant?)
With the Head Chef tagging along to make final vegetable decisions, we
dived into the seed section and emerged with almost everything we'd planned
on, and, of course, a few things we hadn't. There will be two kinds of
beefsteak tomatoes, now: one "hybrid big bush boy" and one "heirloom brandywine",
plus Roma, of course, the yellow pear tomatoes to indulge my wacky color
fetish. The front "lawn" will now not be limited to purple -- there will
be multicolor periwinkle, in pink and white and purple, plus white and
purple alyssum. And in the side front bed I forgot existed, there will
be a wildflower mix that includes the Texas state flower. We still have
to order the blueberries and strawberries, and now we're going to put in
three kinds of raspberries where the horrible wheat-looking things were:
Goldie, Heritage Red, and Black Cumberland from Burpee. On the herbal front,
fennel got added while we were perusing seed packets, and we still have
to order shallots and lemongrass from Johnny's, as both are apparently
too exotic for the HD crowd.
On the more prosaic front, we got a big hose, and seedling starter
trays and soil. Now I just have to figure out where I can put the starter
tray that the kitties won't mess with it, and where it will actually get
light.
then, the digging
I got to do this part alone. :) I dug a large hole for our new compost
pile -- I designed it myself, as a combination of the leaf and work composting
systems I have seen, and tweaked for cheapness. I had no idea how
much chickenwire you can get for five bucks. I built a compost pen (with
that and some metal stakes to keep in the the ground) and have oodles left
over for trellising the porch where the peas, cukes and sweet peas will
be growing. I started it with a bag of decaying leaves I'd kept in the
lean-to since fall for this purpose. Then, since I was already working
hard enough to be able to get down to only three layers (thick flannel
shirt, thin flannel shirt and undershirt) I figured I'd keep going with
the energetic stuff, so I did some more pruning and chopping on the trees
we want to take out and clearing some of the flower beds of last years
massive overgrowth. The morning glory vines still put up a bit of a fight,
even yellowed and dead as they are, and the blackberry brambles thorns
are still sharp. A bunch of daffodill bulbs from the previous owner have
started to poke their green limbs up, probably encouraged by last week's
warmth, but I don't think they will do well in this cold. Since I'm planning
on using that space for other things, I don't mind too much. I'm just really
not much of a flower person. I am getting a hankering to put in a mini-rose
or a climbing rose, though. I like flowers that can defend themselves.
Boy, do my hands hurt. And I tore up the fingers of the bicycle gloves
I was wearing, so the next session with the shovel may have to be even
less cushioned. yipes.
I don't have a picture of the new compost thingy yet, but here is what
the back backyard where it is looked before digging (and before raking):
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