The garden is beginning to respond to spring. Interestingly my diary (postings on this website) indicate activity is about 2 weeks behind where it was in 2012 – see my post on March 26, 2012 where growing was further advanced. Attributable of course to the unusually cold periods in February and March.
Last year I cultivated a strip between my apple trees for corn. Not very successful but in the fall I seeded with turnip and clover and winter pea and it is thriving now.
I am learning not to be too idealistic. For posts for my muscadine vines I used steel posts and cedar posts but also the trunk of a felled cherry tree. I did not wish to use pressure treated wood posts. Well, grubs invaded the cherry post and then the wood pecker got busy and the result is a much weakened post which must now be replaced. And I will probably use a 4×6 pt wood post – not organic I know, and a strong steel post would be preferable for this anchor position.
Another lesson learned is the importance of keeping tree roots out of the growing beds. Last year I invested much effort hacking down the bushes and small trees growing along the east side of the vegetable growing area. The rationale was this would take care of their roots which invaded my vegetable beds. Well it did for a time but there were two negatives – it removed shelter for the insect loving birds and, since I did not pull out the roots or roundup them ( which I will not do on principle) the growth and roots came back. This year I am using the trenching method – a 1 ft deep trench dug alongside the growing beds which severs the roots. Though I am learning that the roots will dive deeper so vigilance and deeper trenches will be required.
Some of the vegetable leaves lost their green not because of nutrient deficiency but the result of the cold weather.
Strawberries and blueberries now have flowers.
And my muscadine (v. important crop) and grape (paltry producer) are now in leaf.
As for my figs – I enclosed them in plastic bags during the v. cold nights but again it looks like most of the above surface areas died from the cold. However this small fig partially survived.
