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April 25th - April 27th

The Canine Waste Digester idea is out, the hole failed the perc test, so I'll be filling in the hole with some house garbage, compost and other yard waste, I busted my nuts digging out that clay, I'll be dammed if I put it back in there!!

• Started digging out the Asparagus bed, I am going to dig 18" deep this time and add Black Kow, my compost and some city compost to the bottom. I set aside the top 6" of soil as it was good, the clay soil is going to my brother for fill. This crown pictured below actually had 2 sprouts, but I removed it anyhow. Purchasing the Black Kow is another thing that has me a bit peeved, my goal for 2018 was to rely on my compost and the recycle center ONLY!!

• Hitting hard clay and granite.

• I dont know if this is some kind of test or some higher power doesn't want me to be a happy gardener, but after I dug out the crowns and started on the sides I hit something hard, well it appears one of my turtles picked a bad place to hibernate, only the shell was left. I am wondering if it was due to him having a piece of his shell broken off in the front where he couldn't seal up tight. He did overwinter last year... very sad! His shell will be going to an environmental center for an educational display.

Turtle shell top left.



This morning before work, I picked up a new planter from Lowes for the Koi Pond Patio. I also grabbed some "Detroit Dark Red" Beet seeds. I hopefully will try canning some Red Beets this year.


After work, I stopped at Home Depot and picked up some Black Kow and Peat Moss for the Asparagus bed, I was really annoyed having to do this. My goal for 2018 was to not purchase any type of soil amendment, but with the death of my asparagus bed I had no alternative.

• Started on the trellis, I'll be cutting the laterals Saurday but will "loose fit" them so they can easily be removed in the fall to be stained.

• The horizontal 2" x 6" supports will be stained to match the fence, the upright 4" x 4" will be stained the same color as the Hugelkultur beds.

• I had to get a bit creative installing the 10' 2" x 6" horizontal supports with no assistance.

• The area under the new trellis will always be used for garden supplies and firewood as well as other miscellaneous stuff, but I wanted to be able to grow something in this spot, I felt the space was wasted from a gardening standpoint, hopefully the Hardy Kiwis will do well here. I need to reorganize the area under the trellis and get my Hardy Kiwi plants in this weekend.

• Next up, reinforcing the compost bin with some stainless steel hardware.

• Last week I installed a piece of "all thread" to keep the sides of the compost bins 6"x 6" sides from spreading, what was happening was, the weight of the compost was bowing out the sides of the compost bin (plastic part) and the wood below it as well. I'm debating if I want to leave the front open as shown, or cover it up, the jury is still out on that one.
  

• Back to the asparagus bed, dug out a bit more, probably a little shy of 18" total, loosened up some of the clay soil.

• Layered in some compost, wood ash/char, Black Kow, Sphagnum Peat moss and 5 gallons of rain water.

I have some more amendments, including some of my clay soil that I'll be adding this weekend, mixing real well and then topping with the original top soil that was removed. The Asparagus crowns are supposed to be here by Saturday.

• Planted some Detroit Dark Red Beets. The small Planter is just Red Beets. Large planter has some beets around the perimeter, the center was a Sprite Tomato plant that died, I will be replacing with another cherry type tomato, hopefully.

• Planted some beets with my Listada Di Gandia Eggplant...

• ... also around this tomato plant.

Planted some perpetual spinach the other day that seems to be doing OK, I tossed in a bunch of sunflower seeds in the Hugelkultur Beds for the wildlife.

• Raspberries

• Bok Choy

• I'll definitely be growing this again, Laura cooked some the other day, sauteed with a tad of oil and garlic, and we both liked it, but she really liked it.

• When I built this Hugelkultur bed last fall to replace the planter, I wasn't happy with it, because to be quite honest, it looked a little obnoxious. I was going to tear it out at the end of this season. After we added the uprights (other side, not finished yet), stained it, and moved the bench back to the edge of the patio and added a more proportionate planter it makes the area look much nicer. "Proportionate", lol, thats just my way of justifying a larger planter to plant more stuff. The new planter will be for flowers and leeks. Laura wanted flowers in the planter, I usually plant Leeks in it, so I compromised, I purchased the larger planter that will be half leeks and half flowers... see, I'm easy to get along with.
  

• Phlox