Veggie Bites
One Hundred and Eighty-one
I awoke this morning to munching sounds. One of my too-many cats had found her
way into the plant compound and there went a large number of my seedlings. Heavy
sigh. I fixed the compound and will re-seed the seedlings she ate, but oh my, that is
not the way I wanted my season to start.
At present, I am listening to the gentle patter of the rain. We need rain after this
winter, and as I look out the windows, the bright spring colours seem to pop against
the grey skies. It is the forsythia that is so amazing this year. I always get flowers on
my forsythias each spring, but this year the flowers are covering each one with
yellow. I am not sure why the blooms are so prolific, but it is a delightful show.
Forsythia
All of my forsythia bushes come from my mother’s forsythia. She took a lower
branch, laid it on the ground making sure it touched the earth and put a rock on it.
This is called layering. After a month or so, roots form where that branch touches
the ground, the branch is cut from the original plant and the small seedling is ready
for planting. I use mine as a very efficient winter wind break.
It is very busy over here. After many years of neglect my house is getting some
much-needed repairs and siding. I cringe a bit as my baby irises and bulbs are getting
somewhat squished, but if they don’t do well this year, they will come back next year.
I just don’t look.
With my new knees, I have been able to move a lot of the fallen branches onto the
hügelkultur where they will rot down over time. I hope to have all the destruction
from the past summer storms cleaned up by the fall. I have removed the tarps from
the chicken coop and checked my trees and roses. The roses are starting to leaf, so I
shall be pruning them this week. Usually, I prune no more than a third of each rose,
paying close attention to dead branches and branches that are overlapping. Airflow is
important so I watch for that as well.
Two weeks ago, I put some radish and lettuce seeds in a pot, the ground was too
cold for direct sowing. And then it snowed. The seeds just waited for the sun and
now they are up. I love cool-crop vegetables. I also put a spiky mat on top of the pot
to discourage squirrels and chipmunks from digging in the fresh soil. I am getting
my peas and spinach seeds prepared to go next.
Lettuce, radish, and spiky mat.
I have been stomping about for a while now here and at work. So far, I have not had
a tick. I make sure to have long pants into socks and long sleeves. I take a lot of care
to make sure that I do not bring a tick inside with me. I found a recipe for a tick
spray that I might try. Time for another experiment. Enjoy your week. Judith
(Email: sghorticultural@gmail.com) Veggie Bites are available at