March 2010 Archives

Starting a vegetable garden doesn't sound very hard, unless you're starting with a very big pile of rocks, sitting literally at an angle on the side of a MO hill. Missouri gardening means having a pick ax handy. And if you grow nothing else, you can always say you grow rocks.

It took most of spring 2009 to level the garden spot, get cedar raised bed forms painted and the vegetable garden laid out, in between a lot of spring rain. It was a late start.
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Did I mention we had to bring in topsoil, and empty out composters several times? 

I tracked the sun across the garden through summer; the section away from the house (to the right and back) where pumpkins and cantelope were planted ended up in shade most of the time.

I spent part of winter staring at this layout, trying to decide if I really wanted to cut down a lovely old oak tree at the corner to get more sun. Looks like a bunny kept a check on the lettuce patch even through snow.
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I have this thing about cutting down trees. Why not move the raised beds closer to the house, and the sun, and leave the oak tree alone?? Oh, look, the bunny checked the lettuce patch...

Here's this year's new vegetable garden layout, using leftover cedar pieces to border asparagus beds on the left, and rounding out a couple of other corners where I'll tuck in nasturtiums and marigolds for pest control. No reason to keep things only on the ground so this year I'm adding pots. I want to find those tiny red potatoes when they're ready to harvest!

The concrete blocks are great for misbehaving herbs; catnip, lavender, scallions and chives wintered over well in their little sectioned-off pockets. The blocks also keep raised garden beds from slipping down the hill.

Here's the garden on the first day of spring 2010, amended with my own compost. Also added humus, cow manure and free mulch from our recycling center. Raspberries on the left survived winter; I added red potatoes in pots; 2 yr old Jersey hybrid asparagus; cauliflower, broccoli and brussell sprout  plants, red onion starts and lettuce. Will add spinach this week, once it stops raining.

The bunny will like that, don't you think?!

Gardening on the side of a MO hill means I'm very attached to steps....

A few of the cedars I had to cut down made lovely steps to the pond.

Railroad tie steps weathered nicely but I'll soon have to replace them.

Rocky, root-covered meandering path is now a comfy, cedar-lined walkway and cat highway.

Margaret enjoys short walks with me through the garden. She's an "indoor" cat who enjoys taking a few steps outside.

"The daffodil is our door side queen; She pushes upward the sword already, to spot with sunshine the early green." -- William Cullen Bryant in "An Invitation to the Country"

When driving through Missouri back roads, it's easy to find old homesteads by the fields of old-fashioned, early blooming daffodils. These narcissus members are smaller than most daffodils, maybe 6" high, with narrow trumpets; they're one of my favorites because they mean spring in Missouri has finally sprung.

These daffodils also make wonderful cut flowers...