Somehow the hens knew what was under the hay and cardboard that covered a layer of donkey manure in my garden all winter. They could probably smell the big juicy worms.
And there were a lot of them. In each pitchfork of rich black soil I turned, there two or three of them obviously annoyed at being disturbed. But they continued to do their good work.
And my work was so much easier than in years before. There were just a few determined weeds popping up.
I will be putting my garden to bed in the same way next fall.
I always wait until the end of May to plant my garden but I actually didn’t realize it was Memorial Day weekend till Friday. I was having a hard time getting excited about planting my garden this year. I’m not sure why, I just wasn’t’ feeling it.
Jon suggested I just plant wildflowers. And I liked that idea, but then I looked at some of the seeds I had.
Marsha sent me some of her favorite beans. I also had some pumpkin and sweetpea seeds besides some flower seeds that I bought.
When I read the note from Marsha saying that the beans liked to climb, I immediately imagined the trellis in my garden. In my mind I scanned the barn trying to come up with something I could use. That’s when I remembered the rebar grid I saved from one of the old barn gates that Ed Gully refashioned for us.
The rest of the gate was long gone, but the rebar grid was still in the barn.
After putting it up using two metal posts, I thought of the leftover fencing wire from when we had the new barn gates made. So I used that to make two more trellises’ for the beans and peas to climb up.
That and the gorgeous soil was all it took for me to get excited about my garden.
At the farmers market (which I’m happy to say is open) I got a couple of cherry tomato plants, one zucchini plant, one yellow squash plant, a six pack of kale, one morning glory and one nasturtium.
I lined the back of the fence with Marsha’s Hollyhock seeds and the morning glory plant. Then I put in some sunflowers and marigold seeds, and the pumpkin seeds.
In my mind the garden is as much a sculpture as it is a garden. I’m looking forward to watching it grow and change.
Your garden will be awesome. Your soil is gorgeous! Out here the soil is hard pack clay, after 14 years of peat moss, compost, and manure we have some good dirt Sadly the day after I finished planting a hail storm took out our peppers, tomatoes, spinach, romaine, and radishes. Fortunately it is early enough in the season to try again and the bean, pumpkin,and cucumber seeds haven’t popped up yet so they should be fine. Happy gardening!
All all that work gone in a hail storm! Stories like that make me really appreciate the farmers who grow all the fruit and veggies I get to eat everyday. Happy gardening to you too. Sounds like you’ll make a comeback.
I too appreciate all the work farmers do to bring delicious fruits and veggies to everyone! I grew up spending summers on my grampa’s cabbage farm. I loved riding on the big tractor! I replanted the lettuce, spinach, and radishes today and trimmed back the damaged peppers and tomatoes. Given time they hopefully will come back from the roots!
That sounds like a wonderful place to spend time as a child Josie. Good luck with your new veggies!
Your sculpture garden looks great Maria, the beans will love it, and the donkey manure should make your garden thrive! When I had my sheep I use to put that on my garden, now all I have is chicken manure. Over the weekend I had a Baltimore Oriole come to my feeder, so I took out an orange and some of my homemade grape jelly. The bird had the jelly gone in two days.. My son told me that I would put him into a diabetic coma if I fed him too much, I told my son not to worry he would be ok We have to keep his energy level up for when the blue jay chased him away.
Well that Oriole will keep coming back! We have one in our yard too. He likes to sing from the apple tree. I never think to use my chicken poop in my gardens, but then we have so much donkey manure. I’ll look forward to the bean growind Marsha!