Much Mulch
A few weeks ago, Mr Chiots stopped and talked to the local tree service guys about dropping off their wood chips at Chiot’s Run. They started dropping off HUGE loads a couple days later. This is coming in very handy in our effort to expand the main garden behind the garage.
We’ve been using all these wood chips to add a thick layer of mulch to smother the grass that surrounded the garden. We’re also using it to cover half of the garden that was planted in a cover crop. With this layer of mulch, the garden has doubled in size from what it was when we arrived.
Since this is mulched wood and leaves, it’s smart to wear a respirator because it’s decomposing very quickly. Mold and dust roll off the stuff in clouds when we’re moving it.
The nice thing is, this will decompose slowly while helping to improve the soil underneath. Most likely, this garden area will lay fallow next year, perhaps another layer of mulch and minerals will be added. I don’t want to do too much to this area until I have the final garden plan laid out. There will be hedges and brick walkways, and hopefully a greenhouse and maybe even a small pond.
This is the easy way to expand a garden, but it does take patience. That’s not a big deal though, I have a lot of patience. Mulch is one of the most valuable things you can provide for your garden.
Do you use mulch in your garden? What’s your favorite type?
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Cultivate Simple 41: Resilience
Today on the podcast we are discussing the development of resilience in your life and how it can help you prepare for hard times but also give your opportunities and choices in the good.
Brian’s Geeky Corner
Gain back some of the time you are losing by tracking where you spend your time on your computer.
Time Track Pro – Mac
Personal Activity Monitor – PC
Rescue Time – Both
Topic: Resilience
Resilience noun \ri-ˈzil-yən(t)s\ an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.
Things that help build resilience:
- Change your Mindset
- Build Community
- Become Debt Free
- Starting a Side Business
- Grow Food
- Learn New Skills
Book of the Week
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:15:25 — 52.5MB)
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Quote of the Day: Joe Eck & Wayne Winterrowd
Vegetables gardens, rightly viewed, are much more than food factories. They are magic places, little worlds set apart from other domestic or horticultural concerns, realms of peace and order.
Joe Eck & Wayne Winterrowd in Living Seasonally: The Kitchen Garden and the Table at North Hill
I really love this book and this quote, because vegetables are truly different than other gardens. For me, vegetables are of top priority. If I had to choose, I’d choose vegetables over hydrangeas any day, though I’m glad I don’t have to.
Would you choose vegetables over ornamentals if you had to make a choice?
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Growing Like Weeds
If you remember, the first week of July was a busy week with ducklings and keets hatching out within a few days of each other. The ducklings are being taken care of my Mama Duck and she’s doing a GREAT job. Having a good mother is such a time saver when it comes to baby animals.
The keets on the other hand are being mothered by me, not my favorite job. It’s just so much work to cart them in and out. If I wanted to keep them inside or in a brooder all the time it wouldn’t be so bad. But I want them to be able to peck in the grass and stretch their wings. They’ve learned to fly out of their enclosure, so we’re trying to figure out what to do with them to keep them safe from the predators we have around here (namely foxes, but also eagles and ravens).
One thing I like about summer is that it’s baby season. There are fawns, wild ducklings, little birdies in their nests and wild turkey poults and I’m pretty sure fox kids as well. There are babies everywhere you look!
Have you been noticing little animals out in nature?
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Friday Favorite: ‘Roxy’ Lettuce
I’ve grown tons of different kinds of lettuce in my garden, probably around 30-40 different varieties. I’m always trying new ones because I haven’t found that perfect lettuce yet – until now. Meet ‘Roxy’ lettuce, voted by our taste buds as the best lettuce I’ve ever grown. Two years ago, I purchased tiny head of ‘Roxy’ at my farmers market – I knew I had to grow it in my own garden. This year, I finally ordered seed from High Mowing. I started seed in mid-May and transplanted them to the garden in mid-June.
Why is this lettuce voted best tasting? Because it’s crisp yet tender. The leaves have great structure in a salad, it’s a butterhead lettuce but has the great crunch of romaine. It holds dressing well, without becoming slimy like a leaf lettuce often does. It holds it’s own in a salad with few topping or many toppings. When Mr Chiots ate his first bite of this lettuce, he said “This would be great on a burger”.
Another reason to love this lettuce is that it’s very slow to bolt, even with some hot weather. We had temperatures in the high 80’s for almost a week when this lettuce was almost mature, not a hint of bitterness and no bolting yet. The description says that this lettuce “holds for a long time in the field”. It certainly does, I’ll be keeping a keen eye on it, but so far it’s nice because there’s not as much need to succession plant if the heads keep so well in the garden.
Do you have a favorite lettuce that you grow?
