Author: mandyrose
• Tuesday, June 01st, 2010

Home from the offices at 6:30pm, been there all day.  Quick snack, no time for more, gotta use the daylight, when it’s not 90 degrees, or pouring down lightning and rain.  Hurry and gather eggs.  Out to the new garden plot.  Arms are sore from yesterday’s hoeing of heavy wet clayey soil up over the 160-odd feet of potatoes planted.  Carried out 21 more hot pepper plants, and 20 more eggplants.  Hacked holes in the same wet heavy clayey soil, planted the plants.  Mulched, weeded, checked other newly planted plants for bugs, moles, disasters, took stock of what we can sell at market on Thursday.  One branch of a newly planted apple tree is broken in the storms - the tree’s so little, the one branch makes up about 1/3 of it’s mass.  Branch is hanging by a strip of bark, and the leaves not wilted - position it carefully, and wrap it with grafting tape and splint it -it may survive and heal.  On one of the trips to and fro from the house, picked the asparagus and took it in, started pots of lentils and rice on the stove, returned a couple client phone calls.  Pulled up the wires from beds that don’t need row covers anymore, moved them to the other garden to cover the eggplants.  Quickly cut and placed TP tube cardboard collars around each new plant, to protect the little stem from cutworms and rabbit teeth.  Getting dark now, working faster.  P helps place new support wire hoops and cut and stretch and tuck and fasten the rowcover, to keep out the deer and the fleabeetles.  Carry the tools and supplies back to garage.  Run back to house to check on the rice and lentils on the stove.  Grab the salad spinner, hike back out with the scissors to pick lettuce for supper and tomorrow’s lunch.  Notice the slugs returning after the rains, grab the slug-picking container, go from row to row brushing slugs into it.  Now the hips and legs and back are really starting to hurt, end of a long day, kneel, squat, bend, stand, over and over.  Drown the container of slugs in a bucket of water.  Have I mentioned how I hate slugs?  Not as much as I hate chemicals.  P is shutting up the chickens for the night.  Give the lettuce a first washing out in the garden. Grab a fresh young garlic and handful of herbs for the lentils, handful of radishes for the salad.  Pull off the lettuce rowcovers for the night, and the rain.  Run in, check stove, start chopping herbs and radishes.  Was soaking some bean seeds for quick germination that didn’t make it into the ground before dark fell tonight - drain them and pack them to last the night until tomorrow.  Throw together the lentils and herbs and seasoning, a quick salad, pass the asparagus coated in olive oil under the broiler - done, supper by 10pm?

Category: Garden, Living, Philosophy
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2 Responses

  1. Your hard work paid off! The Farmer’s Market was wonderful. Thank you for the delicious greens and the tomato seedling! I’ll be planting the seedling this weekend. It’s always a pleasure to have a seedling from someone who grew it with love. THANK YOU again for all that you do.

  2. 2
    mandyrose 
    Friday, 4. June 2010

    Thanks so much Julie! It was great to see your family there! We appreciate your support so much, and are really glad you enjoyed what we brought. Hope the tomato does well for you!

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