Spring Gardening
As usual, the spring is the busiest time of our year. There’s seeds to sow, plant s to grow and garden beds to make or remake. Just clearing the flower beds from last year’s weed and remains took time. And, by the time I could start planting out, new weeds had emerged. It’s a constant battle, and I would be lying if I said I love it all.
Yet, watching my plants emerge from the ground, ready for another season is a great value in itself.
A New Problem
This spring revealed a new problem. Voles. I‚m not sure if this year is particularly bad, because my neigbour has also lost several newly planted fruit trees. To our distress, the vole have dug up several vegetable plots and garden beds. My entire tulip bed is gone. Most of my irises are gone. Likewise smaller fruit trees, as well as a several year-old plum tree. I have waited for my pampas grasses to appear, but when I gripped last years dried stems, the entire plant separated from its roots.
After all the hard work, not to mention the money that I have put in over the past years, I feel like crying. One thing is to battle perennial weed, but to see my otherwise hardy plants disappear completely is truly devastating. To find out what has been lost I must wait and see what comes up and compare it to last year’s photos.
As a start, we have placed some vibrating sticks around the plot, but I don’t think they help a lot. If anyone knows of a good and safe method to get rid of the creatures, please send me an e-mail.
Not Giving Up Yet
Despite the setbacks and the hardship, I’m not giving up yet. However, after last year’s massive food production, I decided to grow less food this year. Yet, that has proven to be easier said than done. Surely, I have less than 20 tomato plants, as opposed to 80 last year. On the other hand, I have sown two types of chilies, maize, several types of squash and pumpkin, kale, carrots, onions, salad, peas, and beans. Just to mention some.
Planting Out in May
I planted tomatoes and chilies in the greenhouse in the beginning of May. If I keep the doors shut at night it can take night temperature below zero, which we have had after planting. Then, we’ve had some days where the temperatures crept above 21 degrees Celsius and, I decided to plant out as much as possible. The plants have already been outside during daytime for two weeks and the plant nursery is becoming crowded. However, yesterday, a sudden drop in temperature to 5-6 degrees forced me to cover up the squash and pumpkins.
Perennials vs Annuals
Last year, I sowed several perennials. Catmint, yarrow (2 types), hyssop, daisies (2 types), and more. Most of them were planted in the four large flower cages surrounding our water fountain to replace the annuals I’ve otherwise been planting every year. I’m pleased to say this has been a success. The plants were hardy and have survived the winter. No vole attack. The catmint is already flowering profusely, and the daisies are budding at a time where I otherwise might not have planted annuals yet.
I did not sow perennials this spring. Instead, I’ve sown annuals for my pots as well as to tuck in here and there in my flower borders. I have planted out some of my favourite tall, yellow marigold, a border of calendula as well as some sunflowers. But, I have cosmos, nasturtium, more sunflowers and some other annuals waiting to go out. Some of them have not grown too well, maybe because I took them outside too early.
Time to Relax
I hope to be done planting out during the first week of June. Then I hope there will be some time to enjoy the garden before the weeding and harvesting starts. As mentioned in another blog post, we harvested more than 600 kilograms of food last year. That was a lot to preserve, so I want to have less to take care of this year.
But, there are several other projects waiting to be addressed, so I fear I wont spend a lot of time in my hammock. I have done some work with stone in the garden, and I plan to post some pictures of that soon. Until then, take care and enjoy.
