Last year, I did not put out a garden -- except a few pumpkins and onions (because a year without pumpkins is a year without... orange -- and because... green onions!)
But the two years prior to that I had wonderful gardens -- bountiful and beautiful.
So, no matter what else we get up to this year, the garden is going in. I'm already late with the peas and lettuce, but that's ok -- March in R'nelle is like February anywhere else in the state (except Pocohontas county which has its own seasons, internal timing and sense of humor).
These plans (above) are for a raised garden -- which we're not doing. And I'm not putting plastic or cardboard down first as per the directions -- because this is slug heaven around here and I don't want to give those little nasties and those infernal little grey bugs anywhere to hide. Our soil is kind of clay, so I'll probably make use of sand under the soil so drainage will be better.
My list of things to do here is growing longer. I want to plant another tree or two next fall -- but far enough away from the border fence so that crazy woman next door doesn't whine about them. I'm thinking white birch would be lovely.
Meanwhile, back inside the house -- and in the present tense -- I'm packing things away in the trunk -- things I'm tired of seeing but don't want to get rid off -- blue bottles, Fiestaware -- and other little pretties that belong to my somewhere house but don't really belong here. I want this place to be serviceable but I want it to stop pretending to be the homeplace. A servicable kitchen, a good workshop, a viable garden, and places for the spinning wheel and that sewing machine (which WILL do what I say this year) and a good place to sleep.
4 comments:
I'm wondering where you will put your garden. Did you say something about Rainelle? Are you moving there? I don't know how to spell it. Except I wrote a short story once and named one of the main characters Rainelle. SOmeday I hope to get it published.
WEll, it's been a busy crazy day here with the rain and having to do errands in the stuff plus the dentist for emergency visit. Now all is calm and I am home and unwinding. B
Rainelle is where we have lived for the past 3 years. We bought a house here and fixed it up. But once we got the work done, there was nothing else to do here. People are not all that friendly. Not unfriendly, either, just not socializing kind of folks. The older folks here are fine people, but stay in their homes and don't mix anywhere except church. Most of the younger folks are into Bud Light and beerjoints and some into drugs. So... we don't fit in.
30 miles away, in Lewisburg, we've got people. We've got folks who are "of the same tribe", so to speak.
We have wanted to move out of this house since before we moved in. I seriously thought this was the year -- but when we add it all up and look at the facts -- we're just not ready (financially) to let it go yet.
The garden will be in Rainelle. I do expect to raise a garden at the old homeplace (just outside Richwood) someday -- but it needs a deer fence to even think about that. So, not this year. We'll work on a garden space there after we have something up there to stay in -- be it a camper or the granny cabin we intend to build or something.
Meanwhile... winters are the thing. We don't want to stay another winter in Rainelle. We stay busy enough, it's true, but there's so much more we could accomplish if we were Elsewhere in the winter. Either Lewisburg or Asheville. Just for the winter. A rental. Until we really can sell this place and move on (to the old homeplace? to Asheville? to Lewisburg?).
Always and forever, though, we will keep the homeplace -- whether or not it becomes our permanent home -- or just a lovely place for all the kinsmen to go and listen to the wind and the creeksong and dream some memories.
For that deer fence at the old homeplace... pick up some of the metal fence posts... the kind you pound into the ground, so you can pull them up easy and move them if need be, to expand the garden.
And get a roll of middle weight fishing line... depending on the size of your garden you might need one of the BIG rolls, like I get. Or not.
Pound a post in at each of the corners of the garden, about 4' or so outside the garden boundary. If it's not a square or rectangular garden, just enclose the whole thing, with at least 4' to spare on each side.
Take your fishing line and run two strands of it around the garden. I usually tie off each strand at each post. Put one about 18" off the ground and the other 3.5-4 feet above the ground. Make the tight enough to not sag, but you are not stringing a guitar, so not too tight.
That's it. Deer can't see the strands and freak when they walk into them, and run away. USUALLY they don't break.. but they will stretch a bit over time and so if one gets broken (the horses did ours once) you can find the ends and tie them back together.
I take mine down after garden season, so we can get the tractor in and the strands usually last a couple of years or more, IF I can keep them from getting too tangled when I wind them off onto a stick to save.
IT WORKS. I learned this trick from a Maine farmer friend, and have since -- just this year -- read it in two national gardening magazines. Mother Earth News was one...
Thank you, Jj! I'm going to give this a try. I so wanted to put in the pumpkins and some herbs up on the hill. There is a herd of deer on the place (I mean wall to wall deer droppings and the ground is practially plowed this spring from all the deer hooves -- and the herbs I left up there have every one been eaten down to nothing -- including my WAHOO tree.
I should have known if I needed to solve a garden problem, I could ask you and you'd know how to solve it. Between you and Marcia, I can learn everything about the natural world I ever need to know.
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