Big garden – nasturtiums bent on world domination
On Friday morning I wasn’t up until 6:30AM, much to a cat’s disgust. I got him fed and my photos edited and the post up. I got the milk order in and had to call the place for window washing. I had to leave a message.
My helper friend arrived at 8AM and we headed out to spread the Fall Mix 0-2-0 under the MacIntosh tree and the crabapple. I’ve not managed to do this for several years as there’s a tiny time frame to do it in the fall, after fruiting is done and before leaves fall. So you can tell I’ve had the bag for a long time.
He also collected the stuff we’d forgotten to put away on Thursday and put it in the car to go to the barn. I’d had to go into the house for something and managed to get a hold of the company and they had received the referral. They would process it and call me later in the day to set up work times. So I did not have to go into the office to get this task done.
Our goal for Friday was to get the Small garden cleaned out so tarps can go down. But first we had to finish the last harvesting: carrots and squashes.
There were only 2 squashes and a melon that was coming along nicely. But my helper picked the melon so it would not ripen. It went to compost. Sigh…
He used the broadfork and we got the carrots dug up. I took them over and washed the dirt off while he cleaned up the grass and vines in the garden. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a carrot harvest like this. There were 2 rotten ones, a few chewed by voles, but most of them were very big and lovely.
I am going to leave the flower row in the Small garden because they are all doing so well.
Once I’d finished the carrots and gotten them into the house, I joined him in the garden to do a thorough cleanout. We took out lots of small branches from the white oak and oak leaves, and weeds. I finished my west side to the flowers and he got about ¾ of the east side done. I will have to finish it on Saturday.
The blue heron has been having field days in the pastures. My helper friend got a photo of him with prey when he arrived in the morning and my brother got one of him in the evening when he came home up the driveway.
My son has been bringing up the storm windows from the cellar. I will have to spend time next week washing them all in preparation for the window cleaners.
We did get times set up. They will come for the next 3 Tuesdays starting the 15th for 4 hours a day. So I’ve got a week and a half to get ready. My son still needs to get the rest of the house pressure washed before the 15th.
Witch hazel flowers
I finished in the Small garden around noon and got cleaned up. I was pretty exhausted but didn’t want to go for a nap and miss the call to set up window times. So I sat and watched videos and read.
I was in bed by 8:15PM.
On Saturday I have to finish the Small garden and try to get tarps on it. That ought to wear me out as I am by myself.