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Writer's pictureJudith Cox

Veggie Bites #181


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

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