I found this over at http://spirituallydirected.blogspot.com/2011/04/spring-garden-poem.html  Roberta writes a blog called "Spritually Directed"  and I always find her space to be one of tranquility and peace.  I thought that I would share this picture with you from her header.  It makes me happy just to look at it (and wish repeatedly to go see this place in person....someday!)

The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven -
All's right with the world!

~Robert Browning

I have been doing a lot of reading this past winter so that when it was time to go out and beginning digging in the earth I would be ready at the starting gate.  This year I am trying a new process that will hopefully make my garden so much more productive.  I have decided to go with "no-till" gardening in permanent beds.  As such I have the front garden leveled, outlined and assembled.  Here is what I have so far:

Keep in mind that this is the preliminary stages.  I don't have the soil spaded, the new topsoil/manure/peatmoss mixed in, and the grass clipping spread on top.  In this picture you can still see weeds and the soil looks terrible.  In another week the beds will be ready to plant on Memorial Day and I need to get weed barrier and mulch for the pathways.  So far I like the idea and the look.  Through my research, I have been reading up on worm-farms (thanks in part to my friend Renee who got me hooked on the idea) and in that research I found that rototilling the soil causes the worms to be chopped up when they die or get eaten by birds.  Also, the micro-organisms and the beneficial bacteria in th soil gets all messed up.  So, I am going to try my hand at a new technique...new for me anyway.

Until next time....
I wish for you quiet, dignity, and grace.

DR

The meaningh behind the image....

This cartoon comes from a blog written by Tim Harris.  Check it out: http://agagaday.blogspot.com/  His humor reminds me of Gary Larson.  Enjoy!

Early May Harvesting

I find myself to be surrounded with luck in the Spring.  Usually, luck doesn't have a distinct odor to it, however, this year it smells suspiciously like onions.  "So," you say, "you think you get luck from the allium family?  How....pungent!"  The reply should be sarchastic and no doubt droll, but the only thing that comes to mind in way of an answer is to play show-n-tell.  First crop of the 2012 gardening season is onions (about 50 of them!)



Why are they my luck?  Well, I don't remember planting them.  Oddly enough they showed up on three seperate locations.  Each nicely planted in their perfect rows.  Funny thing about these onions...I don't have onions on my planting list for last year.  By the looks of things, I planted them in the summer of 2010 and after two winters (one hard and one mild) and a full growing season, they decided to make themselves usefull.  I'm not complaining, but I am mystified.  All of my books on gardening would indicate that this is impossible or, at best, improbable.  But here they are and boy-o-boy are they tasty!

Next on the list is an experiment that I decided to try last fall.  I didn't pull the cabbages.  Mainly, because I was dissappointed in their growth over the very wet summer growing season.  Out of 8 planted cabbages, I harvested zero.  Yep!  Not a single cabbage produced last year.  So I left them where they lay and felt oddly vindictive...a rather satisfying event.  Mwahaha!  My cabbages didn't founder or die, though.  Thanks to the very mild winter we were blessed with in 2011/2012, they grew all winter long.  Now they are in bloom and I am patiently waiting for seed.  Cool, huh? 

I puchased a book at Lehman Hardware in Kidron, OH during the boring season (garden-speak for "the period of time when the gardener is stuck inside the house with nothing but houseplants and gardening catalogs") detailing when, how, and why to harvest seeds for sustainable gardening.  Little did I know that I was not punishing my cabbages for not growing but I was really acting in a non-selfish and "green" manner.  Go me!

Until next time....

I wish for you quiet, dignity, and grace.

DR

I am trying not to "jump the gun" so I haven't started the 2012 season, yet.  But, let this post be the opening bell.  I am ready.  The seeds are planted in trays in my basement and the beds are being cleaned and prepped.  This weekend is the opening push so keep checking for the lastest updates and information.

April

by Sara Teasdale

The roofs are shining from the rain,
The sparrows twitter as they fly,
And with a windy April grace
The little clouds go by.
Yet the back yards are bare and brown
With only one unchanging tree-
I could not be so sure of Spring
Save that it sings in me.