I am late posting photos of my winter garden plantings that took place a couple of weeks ago. Of course had I taken the pics then there wouldn't be anything in the pictures but soil! It doesn't look like much right now but when the little guys grow up the plot will be covered in goodies for us to eat all winter.
We are still using the area along the driveway this year and probably next year, since we used the adobe bricks from the raised beds for the labyrinth; I don't have that space to use right now. This area gets a lot of sun and I can easily work the ground from both sides. We used one of the tomato cages for the peas and green beans; I think this will work out pretty well and I can always add a tall fence around the cage to give the peas more room to spread and hold onto if need be. I still have another section (past the kale) to dig up and amend the soil with compost, then I will plant more of the same things but a few weeks later. This way I am not harvesting all at once. Sucession planting!
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Snow Peas and Green Beans on the cage, Easter Egg Radishes, French Breakfast Radishes and Round Black Spanish Radish. |
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Snow Pea shoots, in the back area there are onion seedlings. I used the seed heads and just sprinkled them along the parimeter of the row. I will probably need to separate some of them as they get larger. |
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In this area we have a french Carrot called Parisienne from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds that is short variety. I also planted Cilantro, Parsley and Dill somewhere in the space. LOL |
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Same area, with Gourmet Baby Greens, Mesclum Sassy Salad Mix, and Arugula. |
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Lacinato Kale |
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Chioggia Beets, these are the red and white stripe beets and Gourmet Blend Beets, this mix has golden, orange, dark red and stripe beets. I will do intermitant planting of all of the beets, onion sets and radishes, watching for areas that I missed and seeds that did not germinate. |
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Last seasons Swiss Chard looking sad, but it will now do much better with the cooler nights. Also a section of onion sets in the foreground. I planted many of these a month or so ago and then more on this day. |
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Bright Lights Swiss Chard and More of the Red Chard. |
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Mesclun and Salad Bowl Blend |
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Pencil Pod Yellow Beans, a bush variety. |
A Girl’s Garden
Robert Frost
(from Mountain Interval, 1920)
A neighbor of mine
in the village
Likes to tell how one spring
When she was a girl
on the farm, she did
A childlike thing.
One day she asked
her father
To give her a garden plot
To plant and tend
and reap herself,
And he said, “Why not?”
In casting about
for a corner
He thought of an idle bit
Of walled-off
ground where a shop had stood,
And he said, “Just it.”
And he said, “That
ought to make you
An ideal one-girl farm,
And give you a
chance to put some strength
On your slim-jim arm.”
It was not enough
of a garden,
Her father said, to plough;
So she had to work
it all by hand,
But she don’t mind now.
She wheeled the
dung in the wheelbarrow
Along a stretch of road;
But she always ran
away and left
Her not-nice load.
And hid from anyone
passing.
And then she begged the seed.
She says she thinks
she planted one
Of all things but weed.
A hill each of
potatoes,
Radishes, lettuce, peas,
Tomatoes, beets,
beans, pumpkins, corn,
And even fruit trees
And yes, she has
long mistrusted
That a cider apple tree
In bearing there
to-day is hers,
Or at least may be.
Her crop was a
miscellany
When all was said and done,
A little bit of
everything,
A great deal of none.
Now when she sees
in the village
How village things go,
Just when it seems
to come in right,
She says, “I know!
It’s as when I was
a farmer——”
Oh, never by way of advice!
And she never sins
by telling the tale
To the same person twice.