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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 2003)
Page 8 The INDEPENDENT, June 19, 2003 Baa Too B iiIt? By Schann Nelson Wow! What a difference a month makes. Last month the garden was a brown potential with a few brave potatoes, peas just coming up and the garlic. Now, I’m having trouble finding places to put all the things I want in, discovering delightful flower com binations nearly every day and have enjoyed a small harvest of peas and spinach. Every bed is plant ed, seeds are up and the paths are mulched, giving the whole vegetable garden a bright golden look. I even saw a snake yesterday, for the first time in sev eral years. Since snakes eat slug eggs, I think snakes are GREAT. Four cats (now down to just one) were just too many for the snakes to survive. Years ago we fenced off the area surrounding the house from the rest of the barn yard. I was not at all tolerant of chickens in my garden, and have been known to have a screaming fit if they, or larger live stock, trespass into my part of the yard. The vegetable garden is in the sunniest corner of the yard and still does not get any sun until after 11:00 a.m. Ten raised beds, each approximately 4’ x 10’, are the structure in this garden with perennial flower beds between the garden and the back lawn. The beds have been es tablished and maintained for a long time now and vary greatly in width and length. I have been very lucky this year, taking advantage of the awesome three-tier plant light unit I was given by a dear friend several years ago. After taking the first set of houseplants that spend the winter there outside, I planted a bunch of brassicas and lettuce. After get ting the remainder of the plants outside, and planting out the lettuce and brassicas, I started cucumbers, basil, squashes and a few flowers. This is why I’ve been able to go from almost no garden to a nearly full garden in less than a month. I had started two different salad greens blends in side. When they got really crowded (because I always over-seed lettuce, which is a mistake) l< ^ Z * VERY carefully transplanted teeny, tiny baby chervil and radicchio and lettuce from a Eu ropean salad blend into larger pots. At the same time, I took clumps of lettuce blend and ary, so I took dirt from the end of this bed for the flow ers. After removing the dirt, I placed a teepee of poles over the space I created and planted both bush and pole beans. I’m looking forward to pictures of my adorable niece in her own private “house.” The remainder of this bed includes a short trellis of pickling cucumbers, three hills of lemon cucumbers and a bush zucchini. I plant lemon cukes for eating raw, since I can easily tell them apart from the pickling cukes. Though cucum bers and squashes are not supposed to like being transplanted, these look great. They were in flats where they were warm, watered and dry on A pole teepee is sim ple, yet fo rm s a good trellis fo r clim b ing veg etab les. top for |ess t^an a week, and I just kind of stuck them in the garden between cabbage was able take them inside at night. The baby plants and cauliflower, thinking that they would mature and are beautifully spaced along a piece of green fence, an be out of there before the brassicas took over all of the effect I can’t achieve with seeds planted in dirt. The space. Much to my surprise, the lettuce in the garden squash is still in 4-packs, has roots emerging (some is thriving and nearly all of the European stuff died. times even before the plant) but will go in the ground I spent the entire Memorial Day weekend working in today or tomorrow. It’s been fun to watch these large the garden. While not great weather for sun worship seedlings emerge like volcanoes, pushing up the dirt. pers, it was the best kind of weather for working out Zucchini would be a good choice for small children side. Cool enough so I could work outside all day and to plant in good warm weather like this. The seeds are also dry enough to be able to work and move dirt. I large enough for small hands to handle and grow moved several cartloads of good garden soil from the quickly, so the kids d o n ’t forget about them before end of one bed to the perennial beds. The poor flow anything happens. Of course, then you have to deal ers rarely get the compost and mulch that the garden with zucchini, something not known to be well loved by enjoys annually. Since the garden is on a slight slope children. Beans of all kinds are also dramatic, as are the beds tend to move a little downhill every year. 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