mowed a little lawn

Today was my first opportunity to do some mowing and all of a sudden the lawn is looking rough so it was time.  I started with the lawn around the house for a couple or reasons.  That part had the fewest branches that needed to picked up before mowing and I wanted the grass short so that I can see any snakes that show up near the garden.  I mowed around the house, the ditch and around the new cornfield.  What usually happens when I mow is that I drive by all these projects that need to be completed and today was no exception.  There are lots of things to do.  There are getting to be little signs of things coming to life.  There are a few tulips in the flower bed and the fern peony is starting to come.  There are a lot of poppies started and a few left over milkweeds to remove. 

I did a quick tour of the orchard and the apple trees are starting to look like they are getting buds but I am not sure if they are leaf buds or flower buds. The plum and pear trees are not a far along yet, but I am hoping that what i am seeing are tiny buds just getting started.  There is no sign of asparagus yet or or blueberries, strawberries or raspberries coming to life.  There may be a hint of rhubarb starting to pop through.  All of the above need to be weeded.  Hopefully there will be good weather on the weekend.  It was clouding up in the west but only  a sprinkle so far. 

I have been spending a little time trying to lay out the front half of the cornfield.  I want to make the best use of the space and match the plan to the seedling inventory that is also a work in progress.  Excited to get started out there As I was making laps around the space with the lawn mower I was picturing it all growing.  Most of the planned crops for that area are warm weather crops so another two or three weeks to wait.  I think our last frost date is May 23 but I will need to verify that. Looking ahead to this week there is one night with an overnight low of 32 so it is pretty early yet.

snow

I couldn't make myself take a picture of it.  I think we may have gotten less than 6-12 or even 15 inches predicted but it is hard to tell.  It was windy so the snow is barely there in some spots and three feet deep in others.  Lots of places in the yard it was 10-12 inches deep.  It is already turning to slush as the temperatures hover around  freezing.  I know that our area needs the moisture and I will be glad that we got this most recent snow but it was just starting to look so spring-like.

A couple days ago, before this last storm, our snow was mostly gone except for in the grove where it collects the deepest and hangs around the longest.  I had poked a little at the top of the composting manure pile and it was thawed and loose and crumbly.  I debated about dragging out the wheelbarrow and hauling some over to the potager and topping off a couple boxes.

I had checked out the potager anxious to see if my garlic was sprouting--it wasn't.  No signs of life yet in the strawberry tower.  I poked around in the new box and the soil there was loose and crumbly.  This was the box that was replaced right before winter.  All four of the long raised bed boxes are needing to be replaced and this was the first one.  Last year we grew potatoes in this spot.  All the dirt that was in the bed was moved and the potatoes were grown in two vertical systems.  One was a wire cylinder and one was a wood box.  As the potato plants grew soil was added to the containers.  By the time it was time to harvest the potatoes the new bed was built around the towers and the soil from the potato towers stayed in the new bed.  That soil, which partially filled the bed will need some compost added to it but it was loose and crumbly and tempting.  The plan is to remove the soil from another box and then plant the potato towers in that spot.   I am not sure if all three of the planters will be rebuilt this year or not but at least number two will need to get done.  Those boxes were the original garden boxes and i cannot complain about how they have held up. 

I had been out to check the corn field.  It is going to take a lot of work to get it ready but I am so excited about having a space to grow the plants that take up a lot of room.  This new space will have the sweet corn, pumpkins, squashes and melons for sure and perhaps the beans, peas and extra tomatoes.

A quick check of the orchard revealed that one apple tree has some signs of buds on the branches.  This is one of the two apple trees.  Both are unknown varieties but this is the one thought to be a full size apple tree, the west one.  No signs of life yet in the new pear and plum trees planted last year.  I am anxious to see if they survived their first winter.  The replacement for the one that never grew last year has been ordered.  Hopefully it will wait to make its appearance until the snow is gone.

I hear from Nikole that they are eating salads from the salad bowl planters and I hear from Kaylee that Asha is eating from her salad bar.  The choi is her favorite.
 

the cornfield

This newly dug up spot will be additional garden space for sweet corn, pumpkins, melons and squashes.  The ground will mellow over the winter and then be tilled in the spring.  The corners will be squared up and it will eventually be a 40 x 140  garden plot.