Looking Both Ways

Early on every child learns to look both ways before crossing the street.   To me the divide between the old and new year seems like a busy thoroughfare with everything from chemical laden trucks to cars carrying families with babies and grannys.  The potentials are wide open, best to look both ways - both reflection and planning seem appropriate.    2011 was a challenging gardening year, with difficult weather and more than usual hungry insect hordes.  The cycle of the seasons brings a new start,  an opportunity to implement whatever wisdom may have been gained, and new projects to take on.   

View across the garden

Our suburban garden, with cover crop on the first bed still green and growing. 

Mulched for the winter

Due to having way too much on our must be done lists taking priority, the hoop house for season extension did not go up this year.  Instead I planted fall greens very thickly, some of which are still viable under the loosely distributed straw mulch.  The two heaps of straw cover lavender plants.   Orange foliage in the middle section is the asparagus patch.  An updated hoop house will go up very early spring  for early planting season extension.  

New compost bin

Above is our gaudy new compost bin.  The plastic pallets came along with 275 gallon totes DH scored earlier this year for the water harvesting  projects.  It makes for a large contained area to throw in all sorts of compostables and helps keep both Toto and other critters out.    Most of my composting is done in windrows along the edges of the garden as a way to claim new space (glorified sheet mulching) .  This method takes a while and usually does not reach high temperatures.  I’m hoping that the more concentrated, taller pile within the blue confines will heat up better and provide compost to distribute where needed.

 

Totes for water harvesting

275 gallon totes that will be used for water harvesting from the roofs of  several buildings.  After a particularly bad wind storm several years ago that severely damaged the asphalt shingles on the house, we replaced it with a metal roof, a bit more expensive but should last longer, be more durable and great for water catching.   Last summer one tote was connected to one downspout that caught the rainfall from just a small portion of the roof, in the first 1/4″ rain event the tote was about 3/4 filled.   It was used as the experimental version to try different connection, pre flush and filtering options.  It is disconnected for the winter, the plan is to set up more this coming year, using what was learned from the first try.  Most possible locations are such that the water can be gravity fed to the gardens for irrigation. 

 

New garden area

This is an area that was covered in thick black plastic for much of 2011 in an effort to kill out the Bermuda grass.  Since we have several days of 50+ degree weather forecast, one of the things on tomorrow’s list is to remove the plastic and mulch with straw, hopefully giving the soil microorganisms a little better chance to repopulate before spring.  Solarizing with the plastic for a year does a good job of knocking out the Bermuda, but there is collateral damage to the micro life  in the soil.   It is located on a low spot on the property where there actually seems to be some fairly good soil, an unusual occurrence around here.  

 

My Dad's old garden spot

The other new project for 2012 is to begin helping with the garden on my folk’s old farm where my son now lives.  Last year it was worked for the first time in almost 20 years.  Despite the uncooperative weather a very successful cucumber crop and other veggies were grown. 

Old pond above the garden

Rehabilitation of the old pond above the garden is another planned project.

 

Other goals for 2012, some continously ongoing, not necessarily in order of importance:

• Good Health – maintain and encourage
• Learn every day, have an open mind, be teachable
• Spend as much time as possible outdoors
• Build soil
• Add to / diversify edible / medicinal plantings
• Produce as much food as possible
• Extend growing season
• Buy locally
• Reuse, recycle, repurpose
• Develop resiliency, minimize dependence on outside systems
• Breathe mindfully
• Love and value family and friends
• Forgive, let go, move on
• Be grateful for every day

 

A Happy New Year to All

 

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