henless' garden, 2018

WOW! Your beds look nice! Have you ever made strawberry fig preserves? You use strawberry jello.

Thanks bay. I really like them, even though the first layer is a real pain making sure they are all level. I put my small one in front of the chicken coop in by myself. DH is helping do the big ones. I've never made strawberry fig preserves, but Mom has. It is good. I canned regular fig jam and whole figs a couple of years ago. So good! Much better than what you get at the store.

Planted 2 more blueberry bushes today and pulled down the old cattle panel fence at the end of my garden. Plan on putting in a couple of muscadine vines there. Those panels have been there for about 20 yrs. A few big roots had grown over the bottom rail. Took a while to get them loose. Hope to have those in this weekend.

It sounds like you are enjoying this beautiful weather we're having. No better way to spend it than outside in the garden.

Henless, are your blocks just stacked, no mortar?
They are so straight and perfect, you did a fine job on them.

@thistlebloom ~ They look straighter than they actually are! No mortar. I have dirt in some of them, and will be putting dirt in all of them over time. That is to help hold them in place. I did tell DH that when we end up moving, that I would like to put them up using mortar next time. It will be a few years, but I hope to take them with us when we do move.

I put out some onion bulbs in with the tomatoes. I want to have some onions go to seed. I think the flowers are pretty and I've heard the flowers are good to eat. Tasty in a salad. Not able to do much else this week. I've been working this week since Mom has had laser surgery on her eye. Planning on putting in another bed this weekend. Hopefully!

Where are you moving to? And when? You seem so happy lately, working in your garden.

Sabine is supposed to be coming through and buying everyone out. The land in my area has been leased to them for years & years. They are working this way, just a matter of time. I told DH the other day that if they are coming, I wish they would hurry it up. I don't want to be 65 & have to move all our stuff!

I really like gardening. Sometimes it's hard for me to do some of the things I need to do. On those days, I take it slow and do what I can. There's always tomorrow to do the rest.

Today, I planted my Brandywines & some marigolds up by the back porch. I planted these in the ground which made my hips complain. Also put in my kohlrabi in the garden. Don't know how they will do. I've never grown them. Tomorrow we're supposed to get another bed up. I hope so!

Sabine Oil, eh? Does that mean that they are working their way through a "field?" And, then do they move on - make the land available, again?

My right hip is what is bothering me now. I think that it might be the back with the structural damage interfering with the nerve. If it's the hip, it's a little ironic that this was the location for the first joint problems over 50 years ago. High school student gimping around for days at a time. "Erosion of the joint," the orthopod told an 18 year old kid ... I'd be lots better most of the time but then ... not.

Anyway, it's difficult to know where the pain is coming from - all stiff in my olde age, as well. I'd thought that the fence repair work would help and it might be exercise but it's not the stretching I need. Of course, just standing up straight is doing something in the way of a stretch .

I have been able to grow the red Brandywine (OTV) in my garden. Fully ripening, mature viable seeds - proved to be so again this month . Makes me feel like I'm a member of a club . Tomato Connoisseurs. Yeah.

Stretch

@digitS' ~ Yes, after mining the land does become available, but it is many years down the line. I hear a lot of people complain about how strip mines make the land look awful. Maybe it's different around here, but the land looks even better once the mining is finished. Creeks/ponds are put back. The land is reseeded with grasses. Variety of trees are replanted. Once they are finished, you can't tell any mining has been done.

eta: My pain varies. RA likes to move around a lot. Where I hurt today, may not be where it hurts next week. Honestly, the pain I can deal with. I've always had a high pain tolerance. I guess that a good thing! It's the fatigue that really gets to me. Some days I don't know if I have the energy to breath, much less move my body.

We got another bed done yesterday! It's been filled & bagged compost mixed in. I still need to add the peat and a barrow full of chicken compost. We need to put up the trellising for the green beans and I can start planting. My butt was dragging. I'll be so glad when we get them all up. Sad thing is, DH does the really hard work. Sometimes I feel so useless.

One more bed to put up. It's my asparagus bed. Debating on if I want to use it for asparagus or not. I posted a thread about it if anyone has any thoughts.

I'm intersecting a lot of my personal stuff with your "henless garden 2018." I should say that I can and should go back and delete a lot. Yep.

Somehow, your experiences relate to my own and I want to encourage you, Henless. Your DH is likely someone who wants to encourage you, also. I know how that is, as well! I don't know what else he is up to but I bet this garden work makes him feel good, in many ways. Ya know how guys might need their wings trimmed now and then but try not to get cranky about the situation. Both of you can have a good time.

I go for ANNUAL gardens because of my circumstances. If you have perennial weeds that you and the asparagus would have to deal with, be prepared.

Easy for me to say. Asparagus is okay but I wouldn't want a whole lot of it for my table. What I need to do is flag the places it grows wild around here . That will take planning because I don't see it until it's too late to harvest, but it's plentiful!

One place asparagus is easy to find at harvest time is along the river. The river level drops after snowmelt slows, few weeds -- there they are! Hey! An exclamation point looks a little like an asparagus spear !

DW and I used to get plenty! Then, the issue of heavy metal contamination of the river made me question the wisdom of eating so much. Lead, arsenic, cadmium, and zinc came down from hydraulic placer mining areas and smelters beginning over a century ago. The public health people say it continues to be a problem for activities along the shoreline and eating the fish despite lots and lots of (too late) clean-up! So, DW and I should figure out how to find the asparagus ! in the grass not close to the river. Mapping ! On his hikes, @jackb uses that GPS device !!

Steve