Author: variadm
Adventures in Stacking Stone
I indicated in my IG feed that I completed redoing the stone border on the HA bed (dubbed for the heart attack that my man incurred attempting to mulch it 2 years ago). I then switched over to redoing the long bed borders and that’s taking quite awhile longer. Digging up clay and re-leveling the entire bed means that we’re adding at least another foot of height on the existing bed. The beds are nearing completion but it is back-wearing work. The sprinkler system redo next to the fence line is slowing down progress.
HA bed with finished border 
Before 
Before 
During 
During 
During 
Almost there! 
Almost there! 
Almost there! Long and Rogue Beds
To help out with the stone and dirt hauling, we purchased and assembled a GorillaCart poly dump cart. It’s quite a monster! We still need more bags of stone, gravel, soil and compost and mulch to get the backyard in a semi-organized state.
The man wants another pallet of stone, but our sod removal contractor hasn’t been exactly responsive so I’m not sure that we have new beds to work on this year.
Tools and Plantings
More IG gardenspo convinced me to purchase a garden fork, e.g. spade fork…which differs from the 3-tined cultivator which is usually handy in tilled soil. I have to say I’m impressed with the spade fork, which is tackling the clay soil I’m digging up to redo the stone bed borders.
Got melons and berries in the ground this week, but there are plenty more plants waiting in the wings. Like the Giga Silver Scabiosa I picked up from North Haven Gardens last week.
Wild strawberry 
Chanterais melon 
Black diamond watermelon 
Melons, peppers, tomatoes, oh my!
Seedlings April 2020
It’s amazing what stay-in-place means for my gardening hobby. I actually get to garden!
Of course, strange days also brings strange weather. I can’t recall the last time I saw April temps dip down into the 30s, but here we are mid-April with overnight temps reminiscent of winter.
It’s a much welcome change from the 100 degree plus Aprils I’ve seen in years past.
But back to the topic of seedlings. I started some seed on 3/31 and here we are about 2 weeks later. Thanks to IG gardenspo, I had to have me some Fish Pepper seeds, which led me to Baker Creek Heirloom Seed, where I bought more than I planned. I never imagined myself growing tomatillos, but I read somewhere that it (along with radishes) would make great pest-attractors and ward pests from companion crops. So into the basket went Purple Tomatillos and Japanese Wasabi Radishes, along with Thai Long Green (Green Elephant Tusk) Eggplant, Jigsaw Pepper, Lemon Bee Balm, Korean Hyssop, and Sirius Blue Sage. Baker Creek also dropped a couple of free seed packets, which I’m still debating on planting.
I was also able to source Strawberry Fields gomphrena…which I’m happy to report, have germinated as well. In fact, all of the seed I sourced from Baker Creek have germinated successfully under grow lights, compared to some older seed that either struggled or haven’t come up at all. The radish germinated in as little as 3 days, which provided near-instant gratification.
I direct sowed the Baker Creek lemon bee balm into the garden bed, along with some Outside Pride Mexican Sunflower seeds (sourced from Amazon in 2017) earlier in the month. Nothing has come up as of yet, but I made sure to mark the spot with a pot of wild bee balm purchased from Painted Flower Farm on 4/7.
Anywho, with this cold snap, I’d better go water the plants! More field notes coming soon!