Plants are finally off the deck, out of their stifling pots and into their new homes.
I feel very behind in planting things in mid-July, especially the majority of them being tomatoes, cucumbers and squash, but summer isn’t over. I know all my hard work will pay off next year when all I’ll have to do is add some new material to the mounds then plant.
Before planting things out, I used up some half empty bags of potting soil and made of mix of soil, compost tea (bananas, tea leaves and coffee grounds- smells ghastly but plants can’t smell?), and an assorted mix of wild flowers. I spread the majority onto the mound next to the boulder since that had the most free space. I don’t how many will come up before the first frost but the weather has been unbelievably out of sorts so I might get lucky and have some flowers for October.
Alongside not getting this project done in a timely manner, I completely disregarded the plan I put together (see maine garden: year 2 to see what I originally planned in the winter).
This first bed was originally going to be yellow and blue themed with the focus on sunflowers, wildflowers, etc. Today, it’s a weird mismatch of red and yellow amaranth, hot and sweet peppers, gourds and a brussel sprout I adopted at the farmer’s market. I’m not expecting much/anything from the pepper plants, if I’m honest. Same with the tomatoes too, though I’m surprised how well they’ve done despite being rootbound and crowded with other things.
This second bed is nothing like what I had in mind. It was going to act as a continuation of the wildflower mixes from the previous bed, along with tall amaranth, calendulas and greens. It is now the tomato patch, complete with hand-me-down tomato cages. At least most of them, funny thing about growing on wood logs is that they’re still trees and a feeble wire cage isn’t going to go very deep. This is also the mound I did not add soil to as it was the fullest of the mounds and this clay isn’t going to get up and leave any time soon. Towards the end of summer I’m going to cast cover crops on all the beds to get started building biomass for the next garden year. Until then, we’re going to find out how well tomatoes do in mostly clay~ Following them along is a couple of gourds that were taking off in pots on the deck and a mix of herbs in more shaded spots.
Bed number three, the closest to my original plan. This mound was destined to be a experimental bed using comfrey and mushrooms to help build soil and biomass for it and the others. Well the comfrey made it in anyways~ This bed gets the most shade during the hottest parts of the day so the majority of the chards and lettuce was planted here. To eventually provide some more shade, another amaranth and a couple of cucumber plants should enjoy their new homes and spread upwards. I may even chop and drop a couple of those comfrey leaves since they’re so big already.
This last bed is nothing like my original plan. That one included more amaranth, more greens and squash. This one is now mostly greens and herbs which, considering our new backyard plans include a patio and outdoor kitchen, these will be of use once established. Mints, thyme, dill, rosemary and parsley are mixed in with kale and chard and sprinkled with more wildflower seeds. I can’t wait to get this herb patch established with so many different things, it will smell heavenly.
It’s a relief to have things in the ground but the back yard still has a lot that needs doing. Mostly gravel and clay removal but with all this rain we’ve been bombarded with our driveway could use a reapplication of the two~
Check back later to see if things are thriving~