Wednesday, June 05, 2013

With photos

 Franklin painting.
 One of my dodgy trellises (I made it!), with the cold frame, planted with squash.  That straw mulch is actually chicken bedding, and I covered the plot  with about 4-6 inches of it over winter to keep the weeds down, and when I went to plant it up, I discovered the soil was very soft and full of juicy worms.  Previously it'd been dry and compacted, so I was amazed at the change, and with almost no effort on my part.  All those sticks poking up are intended as a barrier against chickens scratching.  Pecking isn't so bad, but scratching tears up my plants (I've lost a few too many to  chickens rampaging this spring).
 Roses beginning to bloom!
 My window box with cilantro, cherry tomatoes, dill, lobelia, calendula, and basil.
Cherry tree in its second year, covered in little green cherries (it's about as tall as my shoulder).  Last year I got four cherries.
 Inside my garage with new transparent roof:  lots of tomatoes and a few cucumbers, peppers, carrots, and herbs.  They're growing much more quickly than the few I planted outdoors.
 My front garden bed, with red peonies.  It was covered in weeds last year, so I sheet mulched with cardboard and a thick layer of straw.  The shrubs are all happy, and I've planted a few kale and cosmos in the gaps--they're still pretty small, though.  A few persistent weeds have forced their way through the sheet mulching, but on the whole it's been successful;  and it looks a bit less anti-social, too.
A cute miniature rose, always covered in flowers, and with the loveliest red hips.

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