Monday, April 12, 2010

Let the Gardening commence

Over the weekend my husband and I tilled up the two garden plots in our back yard. One plot is for herbs and the other is mostly for veggies, but will also have some herbs. This morning I planted some lettuce, spinach, and five-color Swiss chard. They don't mind a bit of cold weather and can be sown early.

I don't have any pictures of either of those plots yet, but I did snap a picture of the community gardens, which are a three minute walk away. I will have a 10' x 20' plot in these gardens this year:


The ugly orange fencing is meant to keep the deer out. There are plenty of other critters around too, voles and rabbits, to name a couple. This is the third year of the community gardens. I walk past them everyday with the dog and over the past two seasons, it looks like the critters have left things alone. I hope this year isn't the year they suddenly discover the fresh veggie stand not five yards from some of their burrows.


My plot is somewhere right in the foreground in the picture below. You can see the old barn from the farm that used to be here in the background. They haven't put up the stakes marking each plot yet, and planting season is still a few weeks off. We have to wait until about mid-May until the last freeze has passed:


Once it's safe to plant, I'll use this plot for veggies.

On the way back to the house from our walk, my daughter and I spotted a little snake. It looks big in the picture, only because it's a zoomed-in shot. The little guy (or gal) was only about the size of a pencil in both circumference and length:


Maybe it'll grow big eating voles and keep them out of my garden.

2 comments:

joco said...

I'm running a mile, as that looks like a baby rattler to me.
What neatly tilled soil, for a fresh start. What herbs are you going to grow? Do they have a source of water laid on there or do you have to bring that from home?

ICQB said...

Hi Jo!

Thankfully it's not a rattler. We do have them here, but they're rare. I forget what kind it is, but it's non-venomous, and we run into them a lot.

Yes, there is a water line and spigots and hoses for watering. Nice not to have to truck water in.

I'll have a few culinary herbs, and all the rest will be of the medicinal type.