Progress and memories

Today we had summer time with heavy rain and cooler temperatures tomorrow.  We will then have a series of cooler, more seasonable days and not much rain.  We trekked off to my favorite local nursery and bought 2 blueberry bushes.  The first batch I bought several years ago were purchased from a website.  They were tiny, bare rooted and have been a very poor purchase.  Last year I replaced three of the originals with bushes from this nursery and over the winter another of the originals died.  That one was replaced and the second one today went on the end of the row, making a nice collection of early, mid and late season varieties.  Before they could be planted, however, the berry beds needed significant attention. The rainy spring has encouraged a plethora of wildflowers where they aren’t wanted (aka weeds); chickweed, dandelion, burdock, thistles, fleabane and several I can’t remember.  The berry beds make up about 40% of the garden.  The weeds had to be pulled, the volunteer raspberries that had escaped from their bed had to be removed, the two new bushes planted in the warm rich soil and watered in well and finally, a hefty layer of old hay spread over the areas of the bed where it was needed.

After tomorrow’s rain, while the soil is soft, the south end of the bed is going to be terraced with logs and stones to make maintaining the steep two foot slope easier.  Then the young peppers, tomatoes, basil and tomatillo plants will be planted along with seed for bush beans, carrots, cucumbers, sunflowers and squash and the rest of the weeds pulled and aisles deeply mulched with more old hay.  The hay is too moldy to use in the hen house, so it is perfect to use as mulch.

The cabbages, kale and chard plants that were planted a couple of weeks ago are thriving.  The garlic is beginning to form scapes, so some garlic scape pesto is in order.  The grapes need a better trellis.  I can’t decide whether to try to build one or see if I can find a commercial one that appeals to me.  In my weeding today, I carefully left every volunteer sunflower plant I saw.  I love their look, the birds and chickens love their seed.  I think sunflowers may be my favorite summer flower.

Within the garden are two birdhouses.  My efforts today kept disturbing the bluebird that has occupied one of the boxes as she does each spring.  Her young have hatched but not yet fledged as she flew in repeatedly with food for them.  The other box seems to be housing a tree sparrow which seems odd to me as a nesting box is generally not their preferred spot, but I love watching them dart and fly over the garden catching insects on the wing.

After my efforts and a thorough clean up, there were some errands needed in town and as I was out and about, I saw this

As my first car was a 1958 VW convertible, this really amused me.  I asked permission to take the photo and told the owner, a couple near my age that I loved their car.

Life is good on our mountain farm.  I continue to love the changing seasons, the beautiful views and of course the mountains.