On Tuesday my new helper got here at 6AM and we went out and got the cold frames consolidated in one. Then I fed the seedlings and she started the weeding in the Big garden.
When I finished I started at the south end as she was at the north end. The garlic had not been weeded yet this year and I needed to pull the markers out. This year I had none that didn’t come up.
Next I weeded the lima beans and the green beans. They both have started flowers. Next to them are the parsnips. My helper weeded the row then I went through and thinned them.
I had an errand to run at 9AM and when we got back from that we found a shady flowerbed to weed. She started at the far end and I worked towards her.
My helper friend had arrived and he got the foliar feeding done and then did the milk spray. My neighbor came over with her nice white standard poodle so
I had to stop and pat the dog. While we were talking, specifically about whether I’d heard from the hayman, he came down the road on a tractor, pulling a hay bine.
He didn’t realize I’d gotten 4.5” of rain on Sunday, so he just cut the 2 front pastures as they drain well.
He got them done pretty quickly as they are small. I never did get the tree out of the pasture. You can see it on the left.
As my neighbor was telling me she’d seen the first monarch butterfly, this one landed on the black-eyed Susans. She later sent me a message that it is a Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly.
L-R: elecampane, lemon balm, tansy, catmint, marshmallow, comfrey
My helper friend came over once he’d finished the spraying and got the heavy weeds out of the West Shed garden. I stayed there and did the cleaning up. Then he went over to the West Herb garden and started pulling out the heavy weeds there.
He kept working his way down the garden into the West garden. He had to stop as he ran out of time, only finishing ¾ of it.
L - R: Sweet Williams, perennial foxglove, ligularia, spearmint, Sweet Williams, coral bells
He left at noon and I’d finished the West Shed garden.
About 1:30 the hayman arrived with the round baler.
We were disappointed to only get 2 bales off the front pasture.
Then he moved to the middle pasture.
But again he only got 2 bales. He said they were about 1000 lbs. each.
Old North garden - marshmallow flower
He came back an hour or so later and picked up the 4 bales. He said he would bushhog the back 40 when it dried out.
On Wednesday I am hoping to get outside by 6AM and finish the weeding in the Big garden and get the tomatoes tied up in the Small garden. The Small garden probably doesn’t need weeding yet. It’s to be near 90F by noon time so I don’t know how long I will last. Depends on how high the humidity is. No helpers come on Wednesdays.