This winter has been rather slow and relaxing aka lazy!, hence the lack of new blog posts or knitting designs.
I do have several sweaters in the works and one cabled sweater I’ll be posting about soon, but, in general, my get up and go seems to have got up and left!
I’m blaming it on all the oatmeal I am eating for breakfast every morning, to help lower my slightly high LDL, to get my cardiologist off my back about taking a statin, which I don’t want to do. I’m also taking plant sterols, guggul, and artichoke leaf to help this process. I love oatmeal, but it doesn’t seem to provide as much protein as I need to start the day.
Anyway, one thing I’ve managed to do is to begin to think about what *needs* doing in the garden, and what I *want* to do in the garden, this spring. And these thoughts unfortunately begin when I’m supposed to be sleeping. This needs to be nipped in the bud – no pun intended!
The best way I know to get things out of my head is to write them down. I keep notebooks and binders for just about everything – for gardening, knitting projects (knits for self and family), home reno/repair, weaving info, weaving projects, hand spinning info, decorating ideas, saved recipes, then there’s all the folders for new knitting designs I’m working on.
In thinking about the garden, as much as I love to grow veg, our small property doesn’t make it easy, not unless I wanted to dig up one side of the front ‘lawn’ (furthest from the septic), which I am not inclined to do, not the least because it would mean hubby would need to make more raised beds, which ‘he’ isn’t inclined to do! Manual labor is now much harder for him.
All the pine raised beds have finally hit the limit of their lifespan, which tends to be about 8-10 years. So, the driveway bed and the 2 front tomato beds need to be dismantled, lest the carpenter ants begin to find our house to be their next tasty treat!
So, I am needing to rethink what will be planted in these beds, after the pine is removed and I border the beds with brick, as I’ve done across the rose bed and around the new hydrangea and azalea beds.
I’d also like to simplify my gardening chores, yet still make more headway with beautifying the garden. To this end, I’ll be planting the driveway bed (which previously grew green beans, then a few hollyhocks), with part-shade bulbs and tubers: Gladiolus, Ranunculus, Astilbe, Lily of The Valley, and a few Begonia tubers for house plants.
https://www.longfield-gardens.com/plantname/Gladiolus-Katherina
https://www.longfield-gardens.com/plantname/Gladiolus-White-Prosperity
https://www.longfield-gardens.com/plantname/Astilbe-Assorted-LANDSCAPE-SIZE-
https://www.longfield-gardens.com/plantname/Begonia-Superba-White
https://www.longfield-gardens.com/plantname/Convallaria-Lily-of-the-Valley-Bulk
I’ve not planted bulbs yet, but how hard can they be! It will require a small investment, but is easier than buying plants or struggling with seeds every year. And they should, hopefully, provide tons of blooms for vases.
I’d love to plant raspberry bushes where the tomatoes used to be (as we are eating a LOT of raspberries lately), but that is ill-advised until 5 years have passed since last growing nightshades. It will only be 3 years this coming spring, BUT perhaps this Bio Fungicide will do the job, and allow the raspberries to grow nicely. My poor heirloom roses could also use the help, as they all end up leafless by July, despite watering every other day or so, and being fed Espoma Rose-tone .
I also found a few DIY fungicide recipes online. I saved this one:
Mix 1 TBL vinegar with 1 cup of water
Add 1.5 TBL of baking soda
and 1 TBL of dish soap
and 1 TBL of vegetable oil
Stir this mixture into 1 gallon of water, and spray it on your roses’ foliage. Reapply every seven to ten days, or after a rainstorm.
I’ve also read that a simple baking soda solution can be poured directly into the soil, which I may also try.
Back to knitting and a piece of fresh-baked spice cake!
Dawn
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