Journal March 15

Just had a week of steady rain and cold temps- lows in the hi '30's. While the rain was very welcome, that may have slowed or stopped germination of the hot weather stuff I planted last week. May re-plant when the soil warms up, as I can always thin.
V. brought me back three kitchen trash bags of fresh horse manure, from Becky's place. I put some in each compost bin, along with the latest batch of bagged grass/leaves. I mulched the tomatoes, and the herb bed with some of the same, and saved two bags for future mulching.
Weeded the herb bed- mostly nut grass.
To-do list:
Trellis for squash
Trellis for peas. Also re-plant peas
Grids for Beds II and III
Boards for flower beds along back fence (thin are okay)
Order another cubic yard of dirt from Strong's
Order cuke seeds. All heirloom seed vendors are three weeks behind or no longer taking Spring orders. NB: order early next year.
Start lettuce seedlings to transplant, in the seed starter from Lowe's.

Ordered some ollas from Path to Freedom, to test out. They sound like a good idea for our climate.
This issue of Natural Home was the garden issue. They have an article about community gardeners who plant and tend the yards of people who have suitable property, but don't like/want to garden themselves. They share the produce between themselves. This is genius.
The uplift of green growing things and whatever feeling of self-sustainment we can acquire can't be underestimated.

Too Wet to Work

After a mostly cloudy day on Sunday, we had a short, heavy rain in the early morning.
Too wet to dig, so the new bed will have to wait.
Will work on the grids for the beds instead.
These are made of bamboo cut to the right lengths (48" and 44") and secured with twist-ties
at the junctions, then laid directly on the planting beds, two grids per bed.
I also need to get a cheap rain gauge.