Having flipped through Martha's magazine once or twice and lusting after the images of her gardens, I decided today that if I couldn't live on a farm, I'd bring the farm to me. A lot has been going on in the garden the past couple of days. First of all, I realized that the tomatoes I planted a month ago were now in too much shade under the fig tree. I dug up the old broccoli, dead snow peas, bolted lettuce and celery that never was tasty and moved the tomato plants across the walkway to the main vegetable garden patch.
I also planted strawberries, jalapeno peppers, Anaheim peppers, bell peppers, cayenne peppers, Japanese eggplant, zucchini, butternut squash and cucumbers. In the herb front I planted rosemary, sage and sweet lavender behind the strawberry patch and cilantro (from seeds) basil, oregano and chives in pots.
Now I've read a lot about the best way to cover your garden and I've read that straw is the best thing for strawberries and any kind of fruit/veggie that grows lying on the ground because it suppresses weeds and keeps the fruit from rotting on the soil. Not to mention the beautiful pictures of Martha's straw-covered garden or real farmers talk about using straw. So I thought straw it is! A quick trip to the feed store later and I now have 2 bales of hay. Even Mel was excited.
But then came the trail of tears. These bales of straw are heavy...
and dense.
About 1/3 of one bale was all I needed to cover the entire vegetable garden. But now I have extra seating on my porch so all's well...
Oh and Mel, this is how helpful she was...
lounging around inside while I'm out in the heat, doing all the hard work. But I think it was worth it.
Here's the before...
and after...
Now for the question of the day:
If there are winter flower bulbs in your vegetable garden, can you leave them there while you grow squash and cucumbers?
And here's a final detail of my beautiful zucchini blossoms resting on a fresh bed of straw.
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