Garden Report - Week of March 13

This past week was an interesting one around here. Rain and other stuff kept work on the garden from proceeding apace, but somebody has made up for some lost time. Evidently he had time to ponder on many things while he was on imposed vacation.

Farmer Henry, none the worse for wear.

Let's see....  I think I told you that he is going to do square foot gardening this year. I don't have a real firm grasp on what this means. Even hearing the words "square feet" gives me flashbacks of the unpleasant sort to every mathematics classroom I ever entered.  What I do know is that it involves separating different sections of the garden area he has already prepared using frames. This would require a trip to the lumber yard or garden center for lots of folks, but you already know Henry's not going to take the easy way out, right?

We have an overgrowth of bamboo that we like to pretend isn't there most of the time. We don't have to look at it often, since it doesn't really do anything but hide a clear view of our backyard from the street. This is a good thing.

I see this stuff as bane of our existence.
Henry sees it as building material and
future fishin' poles for Rosemary.

After Henry was released from the heretofore mentioned imposed vacation, he set about hackin' down some of this bamboo. Then he cranked up his power tools, and went to work.  Here's what happens when he gets left alone by his wife for a while, and has nothing but time on his hands. 

Plotting things out.

 

The first four areas for the square foot garden plan.
Each bed will contain groups of companion plants, including
those designed to keep pests at bay.

No manmade materials were used to construct the bed borders.

Last week's garden report mentioned Henry's amazing compost pile, and we have been fielding requests to show that that looks like, exactly. By popular request, here 'tis!

When Henry tilled the garden, he worked in virtually all the yield in the compost pile. What you see here is mostly grass clippings from his having cut the yard a week or so ago. We keep an old Folger's coffee canister near the kitchen sink and all cast off produce, egg shells, coffee grounds, and tea bags, go into it. That gets dumped in when it's full, and there's a handy pitchfork that even I have used on occasion (okay, once) to work it all in good. Nothing around this house goes to waste if Farmer Henry gets his way.

I offer this as proof:

Even the sticks from my beloved Mayfield Banana Popsicles are called into service~