Wow, how did it get to be April already? It seems the more I cross off the gardening list, the longer the list gets. Of utmost importance this week is to address my irrigation. After three seasons, my drip irrigation is beginning to fall apart. Since it looks like we are in for a drought kind of summer, I must figure out watering very soon. So far, neither Walmart nor Lowe's have had the drip irrigation sets that I have purchased in the past. If I can't find replacement pieces, I am not sure what I will do. I am not happy with the current fan sprinkler I have been using since it is wasting way too much water.
We spent a few hours working over the weekend. I was out there a total of about 4 hours and Matt helped for about an hour. However, the help he provided saved me at least 2 hours and likely a few bruises and a sore back! My goal is to keep the garden as weed free as possible. Last year when we had to add a fence to keep the dog and chickens out, the weeds around the fence were a nightmare. I have slowly been adding bags of soil to kill the grass/weed mix along the perimeter of the fence.
This year, I bought some edging bricks so that we can weed-eat around the bags and not instantly destroy them. My goal is to eventually have a pretty little growing strip around the fence both inside and out that we can use to grow veggies (on the inside) and flowers and herbs (on the outside). There was one corner that was overrun with extremely deep rooted weeds combined with fire ants. Awesome combination! Thankfully, Matt was able to get enough weeds out so that we could get cardboard laid down under the fence and then he set the soil bags on top. As you can tell from the picture above, there is still more to be done, but the area he completed was by far the worst!
Here is a view of the side fence. The good (though inexpensive) potting soil is going on the inside of the fence. The bags on the outside are very cheap topsoil and are going on their second season of weed killing in new locations. I was pleased that the plastic held together when we attempted moving them. I planted zucchini in the first bag and eggplant in the second. I am not sure why I wanted to try eggplant because I have never cooked with it, but maybe we will like it? In the background you can see how we are slipping cardboard under the fence and the putting the bags on top. This should prevent the weeds from growing in between the bags like they did last year and thus the mess of bags, weeds and fire ants that Matt had the pleasure of working on today.
I began planting in my mini retaining wall planter today. I put in four banana peppers, alternating with marigolds. The kale and mustard greens seem to be doing quite well. I also planted beets and peas just beyond the greens, neither of which sprouted thanks to our lack of rain and my lack of keeping the soil moist in the absence of rain. I am about to plant beans where the failed beets and peas are. I just need to finish the debate in my brain whether to plant pole or bush beans in this space.
It appears I will need to break this into two parts since it is now past bedtime. I have more pics of the tomatoes and how well they are doing as well as a few other odds and ends I want to make sure to get down since I am trying to keep a weekly journal.
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