ursulas_alcove (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ursulas_alcove) wrote2025-06-17 11:49 am
ursulas_alcove) wrote2025-06-17 11:49 am
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The Rain is Holding Off
The air is pure humidity. The sky is overcast. A thunderstorm of epic proportions was forecast to hit at 10 am. Rising early, I slathered myself in bug repellent. No, not OFF, a recipe from Rosemary Gladstar I found online. I figured I had about 3 hours to work.
Ever notice how easy it is to misread rain forecast into rain forest? That was pretty much my backyard after all that rain. I already have one Rodent of Unusual Size (RUS), the last thing I need is a fire swamp. The cleavers are as tall as me. The angelica was above my garage. Bindweed was the least of my worries. I need someone to watch out for dinosaurs. First I had to carve a path through that mess to the compost pile. Thistles, why did it have to be thistles?
The clearing of the path took more than an hour. I elected to remove the angelica seed heads and put them in a black trash barrel and seal it to sit in the sun (could we have sun later in the week?) The stalks I cut to dry and make a trellis with. They appear to be North America's version of bamboo. While I could hardly claim to have done the whole yard, the garage garden became accessible with the angelica gone.
I took a short break to hydrate. A neighbor was out pounding in fence posts. It's a good time to do it. The soil is wet and soft. I started in by removing the existing fencing. The garage garden is roughly 3.5 ft by 8 ft long. It's a cinderblock raised bed. I pulled all the Napa cabbage that went to seed as well as spinach and lettuce that bolted. I didn't bother with the compost bin. I tosses them into what used to be a raspberry bed. I don't care if they reseed. With the grid walls gone and fence pulled aside, I established a 6 ft vertical wall along the north side with old grid walls. Everything gets repurposed. The walls originally were Kirsten's at Fabric Dragon. I too decided to pound a post into the middle to support the wall. I live on a hill after all. I tied up tomatoes that were already growing (stunted by the angelica). They are now clipped to the wall. Some of my overflow tomatoes went in as well. I had SPACE! The bed has 3 Roma's and 3 black plum tomato plants.
The two zucchini's now have room to grow. Knowing that I will need to clip more tomato vines up to the wall as they grow, I made a path with wood leftover from my painters plus a way to access the bed. It's fenced in again and safe from the ground hog. Then I went on to plant carrots and yellow beans. Now to break into the mulch I just got.
Eleven am has come and gone. The storm did not arrive. I had a blissful shower and a change into clean clothes. My arms are scratched to heck. I'll work on the mulch later. It isn't immediately necessary. Tools have been put away. I figure 3.5 hours is enough for one day. The rain is still threatening.
Results: https://youtu.be/YsNF-ho-sUw?si=l8EZX10B2XaNQArI
Ever notice how easy it is to misread rain forecast into rain forest? That was pretty much my backyard after all that rain. I already have one Rodent of Unusual Size (RUS), the last thing I need is a fire swamp. The cleavers are as tall as me. The angelica was above my garage. Bindweed was the least of my worries. I need someone to watch out for dinosaurs. First I had to carve a path through that mess to the compost pile. Thistles, why did it have to be thistles?
The clearing of the path took more than an hour. I elected to remove the angelica seed heads and put them in a black trash barrel and seal it to sit in the sun (could we have sun later in the week?) The stalks I cut to dry and make a trellis with. They appear to be North America's version of bamboo. While I could hardly claim to have done the whole yard, the garage garden became accessible with the angelica gone.
I took a short break to hydrate. A neighbor was out pounding in fence posts. It's a good time to do it. The soil is wet and soft. I started in by removing the existing fencing. The garage garden is roughly 3.5 ft by 8 ft long. It's a cinderblock raised bed. I pulled all the Napa cabbage that went to seed as well as spinach and lettuce that bolted. I didn't bother with the compost bin. I tosses them into what used to be a raspberry bed. I don't care if they reseed. With the grid walls gone and fence pulled aside, I established a 6 ft vertical wall along the north side with old grid walls. Everything gets repurposed. The walls originally were Kirsten's at Fabric Dragon. I too decided to pound a post into the middle to support the wall. I live on a hill after all. I tied up tomatoes that were already growing (stunted by the angelica). They are now clipped to the wall. Some of my overflow tomatoes went in as well. I had SPACE! The bed has 3 Roma's and 3 black plum tomato plants.
The two zucchini's now have room to grow. Knowing that I will need to clip more tomato vines up to the wall as they grow, I made a path with wood leftover from my painters plus a way to access the bed. It's fenced in again and safe from the ground hog. Then I went on to plant carrots and yellow beans. Now to break into the mulch I just got.
Eleven am has come and gone. The storm did not arrive. I had a blissful shower and a change into clean clothes. My arms are scratched to heck. I'll work on the mulch later. It isn't immediately necessary. Tools have been put away. I figure 3.5 hours is enough for one day. The rain is still threatening.
Results: https://youtu.be/YsNF-ho-sUw?si=l8EZX10B2XaNQArI
Thoughts
It's hot and humid here in central Illinois. :P
>> I already have one Rodent of Unusual Size (RUS), the last thing I need is a fire swamp. <<
Oh dear.
>>The cleavers are as tall as me. The angelica was above my garage.<<
Some of the grass is as tall as me, the sunchokes, some of the goldenrod. The cup plants have a ways to go yet. They and the sunchokes are the tallest herbaceous plants that I have, reaching 10-12 feet.
>>I tied up tomatoes that were already growing (stunted by the angelica). They are now clipped to the wall. Some of my overflow tomatoes went in as well. I had SPACE! The bed has 3 Roma's and 3 black plum tomato plants.<<
I am trying a bunch of different tomatoes this year, in pots on or around the new picnic table garden. 'Chocolate Sprinkles' is a dark cherry tomato that is delicious and the first to set fruit, so that's becoming a major favorite.
>> My arms are scratched to heck. <<
Gardening often involves a measure of blood sacrifice. Especially if you forget where you are and swat a mosquito in the blackberry patch.
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