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Lasagna Garden

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  Right now our new raised beds are covered with freeze cloths to protect them from our cold weather. Although we did not have a successful summer or fall garden (at one point in October the soil temperature was 100 degrees), the winter garden is looking much better. Before they were covered a few days ago, the beds held radishes, carrots, peppers, onions, cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli, Swiss chard, kale, several kinds of lettuce, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, Mexican mint marigold, several kinds of basil lemon verbena, sage, thyme, blackberry bushes, sugar snap peas, sweet peas, blue and white mistflowers, and two tomato vines. We'll see what survives the freeze. Meanwhile...with the help of the Wilson County Extension Master Gardeners, we have completed the construction of a lasagna garden in front of The Bee and the Clover. It's called a lasagna garden, because it has layers like a lasagna, Our intent is to plant a demonstration garden of fragrant, white native plants. The...
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Shades of Green

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We did complete the construction of our new garden. We made six raised beds and filled them up with winter greens. We are in the process of adding more gardens around the fence to grow tomatoes. Here are the many shades of green that we are enjoying,   Shallots, onions, sugar snap peas, and mustard greens   Spring onions, sweet peas, and mustard green Turnips, cilantro, spinach, parsley, bib lettuce, and dill Broccoli, Brussell sprouts, Swiss chard, mesculin mix, and carrots Kale, red and green cabbage, beets, and romaine lettuce Poppies, spinach, Crawford lettuce, and radishes Romaine lettuce Cilantro Dill Spinach Bibb lettuce Romaine lettuce Sugar snap peas Mustard greens Second growth of broccoli Red cabbage Beets Green cabbage  
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East of Eden

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  We have been struggling with what to do after the fall of the garden and before the fall of the season. As you know we unintentionally poisoned our big garden out front this spring. That was devastating. This summer we have endured record-breaking heat and drought. Nothing is growing well, except the trees, and even they are looking a bit droopy.  We are re-thinking what it means to have a garden in this kind of climate. We've come up with some ideas, but it's too hot to implement many of them yet. We don't know how long the garden that we poisoned with manure compost that had residual herbicide in it will be unhealthy for plants. Grasses won't be bothered by the herbicide. So we are planning to convert that garden, the one in front of the Bee and the Clover into a grass and native plant demonstration garden. We plan to irrigate it so that folks will be able to see what the grasses look like when they have enough moisture. We hope that we will also be able to harvest ...
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Perhaps All is Not Lost

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I am still dealing with the grief of unintentionally poisoning my own garden. We are making plans to convert the garden to a demonstration grass garden, with the hope of harvesting viable seeds to sow back into the prairie. The grasses should not be affected by the herbicide.  When we returned from our trip to Lake Tahoe to lead a retreat on Experiencing Resurrection Through Nature, we found a few things flourishing a bit in the garden. I harvested some kale, Crawford lettuce, green onions, and a little bowl of blackberries. So perhaps all is not lost.  I did a biological assay on the soil in the garden and soil with our own homegrown compost. The difference is remarkable. We will begin again. It's not too late to plant some summer vegetables, I think. Perhaps we will buy a few tomato plants from a nursery. We're very thankful for the lovely showers.  
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Mrs. Goodkind's Advice

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I have a sad story to tell about Lil’s Garden. After a disastrous year of gardening last year, we were determined to make every effort towards a successful garden this year. We drew a garden plan, reformed the raised beds, made a special trip to David’s Seeds to purchase seeds, grew 80 tomato plants and other things from seeds, and set up trellises for the tomatoes, beans, and cucumbers.  To enhance our soil, we got three truckloads of manure compost from a neighbor who was mucking out her barn after 10 years. We worked the compost into the beds with the tiller. We planted the plants and sowed the seeds and waited. Many of the seeds didn’t germinate.  The potatoes were very slow to come up, and when they did the leaves were cupped and curly. They just didn’t look right. I got on the internet to diagnose the problem. It appeared that the manure compost may have contained herbicide. I contacted our rancher friend and asked if they had sprayed herbicide on their pastures. She sai...
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