As much as I would like to spend every waking hour in the studio it's just not possible. Believe it or not I've other loves besides quilting. If you told me when I was in my twenties I'd love vegetable gardening someday I would have laughed in your face. Back then my gardens were limited to flower gardens with a few tomato and pepper plants worked into the landscaping. These days I'm starting to feel like a low end prepper. You know those crazy people you see on TV that think the world is coming to and end. Trust me...I'm not one of them, I just like gardening!
Many of my friends think that gardening is just plain nuts when you can buy fresh organic produce at new fancy expensive markets. Well all I can say is... it taste's better when I grow it, and I know there's absolutely no chemicals in my organic garden. No chemical bug spray, I'll make an organic mixture and I've planted Marigolds, bugs hate the smell of them. If it were left up to me we would have cut down the trees to make the fences instead of chemically treated wood. But sadly some things are out of my control. As you can see below we use grass clippings from our yard and our neighbors down the road to mulch between the row. This is great, it keeps in moisture, feeds the soil and best of all cuts down on weeding so I can get in the studio someday soon. You might also notice my plant markers are lids from store bought food containers. Yes we are big on up-cycling, recycling and reusing.
Every year for the past 6 yrs or so our garden is expanded. This year I asked Mr. Podunk to enlarge our main fenced in garden. That gives me another 3 rows of planting space. The red space shows our expansion this year.
Not every one likes or needs a fenced garden but its a must in Podunk. The deer will destroy the garden without fencing. Not to mention what the chickens would do...very destructive little girls. Life is a little harder in the country. Just look at poor little Red(chicken). She took a good beating from the neighbors dog a few weeks ago.
And the oh so cute bunnies will taste everything in a garden until they find something that's edible. BAD BUNNIES!
Our original fence wasn't bunny proof so we've added chicken wire to the existing fence and gate.
The focus for the last couple of weeks has been building my own potato towers. It's not pretty but the wood was free, all I had to do was walk into the woods and cut it down. This is my first year growing plain ole potatoes so we'll see how it goes. They're sprouting so I think we may have some fresh potatoes this fall.
Even our raised beds need to be protected from the critters. That fencing below does nothing to keep out the moles that seem to think this is their new palace in Podunk. Being an organic gardener is a test of patience. So we've decided to try an old fashion remedy of Castor oil and dish soap...we'll see how it works.
I've also had to treat the sweet potato bed I made a couple weeks ago. We won't be planting in there for a few more weeks so I'm trying to prevent a new mole condo complex from popping up.
The castor oil mixture seems to be doing a pretty good job over in the spinach and onion beds.
Today's agenda is pepper pants. I've not even started clearing this bed of weeds and moles so it's gonna take a few days. Hopefully I can weed and evict the moles today. Then plant once the moles have pack their bags. Sounds like I might be able to fit some quilting into my afternoon and evening!
~ Lea Anne ~
