The status here has changed substantially, as you can see above. The blog will continue, hopefully with more frequent input than recently.
Seed saving and trading/sharing will also continue. I still want to bank seeds, not just of tomatoes, but I am older than the lead photo on the blog would indicate, and have passed the seed bank on to younger hands.
In the meantime, I will continue to pay it forward, and trade/share seed to all corners of the world, as I did with Val.
This poem, which we both have known since the 1960's gave us much comfort through Val's battle with cancer.
Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.
Life comes with no guarantee of quality or quantity. It is up to you to remember to smell the flowers, watch the sunset, hear the birdsong in early morning, and the spring frogs in the evening. What ever happens in your little corner of it, it is still a beautiful world, and you do yourself a great disservice if you fail to see and celebrate what is there.
Grunt
A little footnote here, that will stay at the top of the blog. I have married again, for the fourth time. Another internet marriage, as Val's and mine was, and just as good, although completely different.
I was also diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2011, and started treatment to cure it in late August 2011.
The blog will carry on, in much the same vein as it always has. I will post mostly garden related articles, but also a few comments on things and life in general.
For a while, I thought Gump had it right = sh*t happens. He's wrong = LIFE happens
I am sad to report that Dan McMurray passed away on February 15, 2012 at his home in Wynndel, British Columbia. Dan was 69 years old. His family wishes his blog to remain for those who wish to read Dans' journey.
When the potato plants start flowering, probably early August, I will add another heavy coat of mulch around the base of the plants, perhaps twice in a two week period. The plants tend to put out most of the tubers almost on the surface of the mulch then, and they will sunburn if they don't receive another blanket of mulch, just as they would if you didn't hill them. Come harvest time in the fall, I won't need a shovel, as the tubers will almost all be above the cardboard. And since they are totally surrounded with green mulch, there should be no scab on any of them. I will try to remember to post update photos of the progress of this new bed.
That is really cool! I will have to try it as soon as I can get a lawn to grow.
ReplyDeleteYou can do the same thing with leaves or straw for mulch.
ReplyDeleteHow thick is the mulch over the spuds? I use a comparable system, but don't get good results, and I wonder if I'm piling on too much grass cuttings. I can plant through a layer of dead leaves (my other option) which has been there a while, but not much seems to grow satisfactorily through freshly laid ones.
ReplyDeleteInitial covering should only be 3" to 4" of mulch, not packed down. Since what I am putting on here is freshly cut, and hasn't lost bulk through drying, it is more like 5" to 6" thick. Potatoes have no trouble pushing up through even 8" of grass clipping (although it may take them some time) but find it very hard to push up through even 2" of matted leaves. If you have to use fresh leaves for mulch, put the leaves down, and punch a hole in them to plant your potatoes. Once the sprouts come up, you can add more mulch. When the plants start flowering, definitely pack on more mulch, and fairly heavily = that is when the plants will start producing a bunch more spuds, almost on top of the original mulch. If you don't add mulch then, you will have a lot of greened potatoes.
ReplyDeleteAs for the above photos of the new potato bed, we had two weeks of rainy weather right after I planted the potatoes, and most of them rotted before I thought to check on them. The rain kept the grass wet, and too cool to promote sprouting, which would have taken care of the problem.
It's not a total loss, as It gives me an extra 10" to let the Rouge Vif D'Etampes squash run, and the soil will still be easy to dig for a new bed nest year.
For some reason straw did not work for me. I tossed some dirt on a few plants and it worked good. Next year I will try trenching plus dirt.
ReplyDeleteIf you had the same weather I did, the two weeks of rain following planting were probably to blame. I got busy at other things right after doing the bed, and didn't notice that the spuds were too wet for too long = I got one plant to come up. The up side to it, is the squash I planted between the two spud beds had lots of room to grow. Rouge Vif D'Etampes is beautiful when it matures.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember when I planted potatoes but I think the ones I planted later with no straw did better. We did have a really cool and wet spring. How did your tomatoes do? I planted my tomatoes too close together and did not stake them up very well. They didn't do very well and the slugs were all over them.
ReplyDeleteI'm also wondering what you favorite pole bean is?
I think almost everyone in our neck of the woods had the same sort of result in the garden, nothing much good. Tomatoes were a lost cause here. I usually harvest something over 4000 lbs. This year the harvest really wasn't. Normally we have a tomato tasting, the last week of August = I didn't have a half dozen ripe fruit in the whole garden then. The tomato pick off to take care of the bulk of the fruit, usually happens second weekend of September. I didn't have anything to be picked then. I took in about 300 lbs of greenies, that finally finished ripening or rotting just before Christmas.
ReplyDeleteHopefully we get something approaching a normal summer this year, and get back to being able to brag a bit about our gardens.