digging dirt

I finally got to spend much of a day in the yard and garden. Three loads of wash out and in again and one in early on from a late night hanging, just to get it going, and then I was off to the garden.

Soil temp yesterday afternoon was mid-60s so the earth is telling me it is time to plant EVERYTHING. I got out 250 feet of row of cauliflower and broccoli -- which got mixed up and were poorly labeled for starters, as I had run out of proper wood or plastic label sticks -- so they are just planted together and I will not worry this year about varieties (though I will try to second guess who is who and will direct seed the small remainder of the packets as an experiment, so may be better able to ID the seedlings as they grow.)

I planted the ones that had got some good growth on at 18" apart and the smaller ones half that, figuring that half may survive.

I had been skunked on getting bare root strawberries, but found several packages in plastic -- 10 plants for under $4 -- at Home Depot so bought 3 as a promise to the garden. Sigh... I am not sure any will grow, I'll consider half a rousing success. The poor things were gathered up and roots wrapped about and bundled up with a rubber band, inside a plastic bag with some moss. The result is that getting crown UP and at ground level, roots DOWN etc was problematical -- and adding to the difficulty many had already started to grow in various directions, mostly sideways. But they are out.

I was also able to "shoot" the north star, finally, last night, to set the directions for the herb wheel. I'll shoot some pics of this perhaps later, after I get some herbs planted... I plan to plant it as 12 sections, with the sections on the directional lines, not the paths. Not yet sure who will go where, but I am sure I will be told when I get out to plant. I am going to eventually recycle the pile of broken cement block as "rocks" to separate the sections and surround the garden. No, I don't lack for rocks, but this is a way to use up the waste pile from the back.

I was going to ask K to help by carrying a wagon load around with the little lawn tractor, but the thing appears to have died. It made a strange "pop" day before yesterday and K has not been able to find the problem. All the obvious things are working so he is suspecting a broken part internally -- something not worth fixing, even if it were found. But we will take it to the guy who works on them later, he says. Meanwhile I am glad I do not think of having "lawn"... as it is up to nearly 6" many places now.

We did get a battery weed whacker, so I will take it out to the front ditches today and whack a bit, making places at least to plant some of the rooting willows and such. Also on the list for today along with willows and herbs are the forsythia and perhaps other seeds -- we will see how long the first part takes.

I will be going to breakfast in a bit with friends -- or at least a friend -- to talk about several of our cooperative ventures. I was accepted at the Bangor Outdoor Market. Apparently this market has a new location and a new manager ( from what I hear, politics is rampant in farmers and outdoor markets) this year, with many previous vendors not returning due to last year's bad location. Dutch Hex Sign will be there, vending my art as well as herbs and veggies, under the label "Stone Soup". I just was reminded of this market by a local blog site I read and found out that the market is open only on Thursday evenings, June and July, 5-8 pm. That day and those hours are perfect for my schedule, as well as the price fitting the budget.

Now to hope something grows!