Thanks for the thread.
I don’t think I got a reply to my question as to what to do with gallons of tomatoes in my freezer from last year... but instead of canning I cooked it down to tomato paste. 5 lbs of tomatoes cook down to about once ice cube tray full of tomato paste.
So here is a "Sanford and Sons type approach:
Start with bare garden plot, with NE's major s best "crops" - plenty of rocks:
Then make a cheap screen out of junk lumber and 1/2 screen:
Shovel dirt onto the top to produce screened dirt:
Dig plot holes and place a little fertilizer, a soft cushion of screened dirt,
Add some water and place plants (from seedlings here) in them, and cover with more screened dirt, and water, and see garden, by the grace of God and to His glory:
The front plants (about 19 out of about 50+) are from Home Depot
Now to pray and see the fruit of this labor, which last years provided much to share and enjoy ourselves as well.
and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities [idols] unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: (Acts 14:15)
My injured hen is still hanging in there. No infection but no feathers on her back. I put a hen apron on her today as the rooster has taken an interest. Not good.
I got bare root strawberries (Monterey) in the mail yesterday from a nursery in NC.(I’m in the SF Bay Area)
I planted them in one of those GreenStalk knockoffs after rehydrating the roots for an hour.
I used 1 part vermiculite, 1 part peat, 2 parts each of manure and Miracle Gro potting soil and 4 parts sand and put a tiny bit of hay (feed store didn’t have straw) in the bottom so it could drain without dirt running out through the holes.
They have some cedar hamster bedding as a light mulch which is more for keeping the moisture and dirt from piling up around the crowns.
Fingers crossed!
Tomatoes and potatoes are forming. I am kind of winning the war against slugs for a change so lettuce and whatnot is okay so far but had to yank beets out because the dang leaf miners got them again.
I never knew why the beets looked like that every year until a week ago.
Peas are almost a foot high but no sign of flowers. They’re in the shade.
Bell peppers puny as usual.
Corn, squash, beans and sunflowers kind of crowded together but still looking good. Weather is finally getting warm so maybe squash and cucumbers will liven up a bit.
Maybe I should dump some liquid plant food on everything pretty soon.....