Final Tilling

Tonight after dinner, Dad and I headed down to the Big Garden and gave it the 2nd and final tilling of the year. I was pleasantly surprised by how much it had dried since the last tilling. I had thought that we would have to wait until the weekend to till again. Now it will have two warm, sunny days to dry out once again, and then I should be able to start working on setting up the rows by Sunday. It will be so nice, and so rare, to be able to have the tilling done for the year by Memorial Day weekend.

As soon as Dad started the tiller, a robin flew in and landed behind him. He happily followed the tiller the whole evening, grabbing up worms. I am not sure how he was able to fly by the end!

Next to the Big Garden gate is Dorthy's rose. This lovely old rose in in full bloom right now. Thanks to our fairly dry and warm Spring, it hasn't been affected too much by black spot like it has in many past years.

Besides being a striking hot pink color, it is also quite fragrant. I would describe its scent as a light floral. Quite feminine, just like the rose.

I am really pleased that it has sent up two new canes this Spring. It didn't send up any new ones last year and the whole rose plant has been diminishing in size for the past 4-5 years. I think voles have been tunneling through its root system, causing the rose to loose vigor. My fingers are crossed that these two new canes continue to grow and thrive.

First Tilling

Tonight after dinner we headed down to the Big Garden and gave it the first tilling of the year. It is always a milestone on the gardening calendar for me. It really marks the start of my dahlia garden, although planting is certainly many, many weeks away. The soil was fairly decent for this first pass. Nicely dry in the normal sections and wet - but not really wet - in the usual areas. Looking back at past posts, this week really does seem the "average" date that we are able to do the first tilling each year. Last year it was May 12th, in 2014 May 15th, 2013 May 6th, 2012 May 14th, 2011 June 15th, and 2010 May 14th.

In other exciting news, I have the first germination in the flat of seeds that I started last Sunday. Tonight there are 3 "Magnificenza" Melon poking though the soil. Four days is pretty quick germination but it was 82 degrees yesterday and today and I sure that helps.

Tilling #2 and a Dahlias Potting Finish

The warmest day of the year so far. We hit a high of 85 degrees and it certainly felt like it this afternoon. Dad and I went down to the big garden around 11:30. He drove the tractor and I brought down the push lawnmower. While he gave the garden its second full tilling of the year, I mowed all around the garden, inside and out. The garden really looks good. The soil had completely dried out from the heavy rains we got back on the 11th and 12th and it tilled up really well. There are almost no clumps at all and the soil surface is pretty level. We are thinking, since it is in such good shape, that this might just be the final tilling of the year.

Once I got back the house, I finished unwrapping and potting up the last of the dahlia tubers. I potted up 46 more tubers for a total count of 269 pots! Not all of them will be planted down in the big garden. Some will stay up at the house and I am sure a few of them won't eye up and become plants. I imagine the big garden will have between 250-260 plants this year. After I finished potting up everything, I watered all of the dahlias that had emerged. As of today I have 81 of the 269 dahlias up and growing.

Below, a healthy start of "Hollyhill Bridget".

Last Tilling of the Year

Tonight, right after work, we headed down to the garden and gave it the 3rd and final tilling of the year. Dad actually tilled the whole garden twice. First it was completely tilled going back on forth vertically, making many short trips. We felt that would help push down some of the "hills" that appear in the garden after multiple tillings. Once that round was finished he then tilled the garden horizontally in long passes as we normally do. The combination of both tillings worked well. The garden ended up as smooth as it has in a number of years. It should make the setting out of my rows go a little easier this year. It was also finally much drier tonight too. The soil was only sticking to the tractor's wheel in just a few spots.

As Dad worked, a couple of clever Robins arrived. They quickly went to work pulling out worms in the freshly tilled soil.

I busied myself cleaning the garden gate. Each year it always get covered with tree pollen and a fine layer of dirt. I washed both sides and gave my glass dragonfly a good cleaning as well. It looks so much better now.

In the hedgerow, between the garden and the road, I noticed that the Indian Plum are slowly turning from yellow to a deep purple. As they ripen, someone has begun eating them too!

The First Tilling

Tonight, we were able to give the garden its first tilling of the year. Each year it is different experience. The last two years, it was actually dry enough that some dust flew in the air behind the tiller's blades. There was not any dust this year! It was dry enough to till, but the turned up soil was still damp. The air was filled with the unmistakable smell of wet soil. Per normal, the far end from the gate was the driest, and the opposite end was quite wet, but with no standing water. It's always interesting to compare over the years on what date we are able to do the first tilling. Last year it was May 6th. In 2012 it was May 14th, in 2011 June 15th and in 2010 May 14th. So, this year's date of May 15th seems to be right around the average. Thank goodness it isn't in mid-June again!

2nd Tilling & Planting the Potatoes

Tonight after work I went down to the big garden with Dad. He drove the tractor and we gave the garden its second tilling of the year. I am amazed at how little moisture there is in the soil. For much of the tilling tonight, there was a small cloud of dust following in the wake of the tractor. At this point my plan is to see what the weekend weather brings. If the rainfall is minimal  I think one more tilling later next week should finish it up for the year. What a difference a year makes!

After we got back from the garden, I opened up the box of potatoes that had arrived in the mail from The Maine Potato Lady. I learned about this amazing company from Susy over at Chiots Run. It is a wonderful source for organic seed potatoes. After reading over the extensive catalog on-line, I finally chose two different varieties to try for the first time. Here are the catalog descriptions:

"Nicola" generous yields of huge potatoes, all golden-skinned and golden- fleshed. Eating them was another delight! Home fries with onions, salt, and butter were scrumptious. Consistency makes it a good choice for the market grower. Developed in the Netherlands and Germany. Immune to viruses; resistant to blight. 

"Dark Red Norland" easy to grow with consistent yields of beautiful round red tubers from large to small. Steam or boil some of these babies for those first early meals straight from the garden. Resistant to scab; fair storage. Purplish-blue flowers on a medium-sized plant.

I haven't grown potatoes for many years, so this feels a bit like trying it for the first time. Since the soil down in the big garden is straight clay, I decided to give grow bags a try this year. Reading the recommendations on the provided information sheet, I cut each potato to the size of " a hen's egg". As you can see in the above picture, the "Dark Red Norland" potatoes have nice sized sprouts already forming all over the tuber.

The instructions said to plant each potato one foot apart in a row. Since I was using the grow bags, I decided to experiment. I planted 4 in one bag and three in another. It will be interesting to compare yields when I harvest them. 

Next I cut up the "Nicola" tubers. Look how beautiful that golden yellow flesh is.

The potatoes went into a slight smaller size grow bag. Once again I decided to experiment so I planted three in one bag and two in another.

As I put my seedling trays away in the greenhouse for the night, I discovered that I had my first germination in the second tray that I seed on Sunday. My first "Black Watchman" plant hollyhock is up. This really surprises me because the seed packet said that germination would take between 7-14 days. Nothing like hot weather to make it happen in only 4 days! I also found that four of my six "Bright Bandolier" sunflowers have germinated. They are all still sporting their black seed head but are clearly up. What a nice surprise.

First Tilling of the Year

While I was at work today, Dad went down to the garden and gave it the first tilling of the year. This is always a benchmark on the gardening calendar. This year's tilling is the earliest that I can remember in a long, long time. As a reference point, the first tilling in 2012 was on May 14th, in 2011 it was on June 15th and in 2010 it was on May 14th. Dad reported that parts of the garden were already quite dry and he actually was kicking up dust as he pasted by certain sections. He deemed it the "best first tilling he had done in years.

The 7th Tilling!

Like so many gardening days this year, today did not go exactly as I had planned. I had hoped to go down the garden in the morning and with some help, rake out the major peaks and valleys. Then I could immediately begin laying out the stakes. When we got down to the garden, we discovered that the clod ridden soil had dried and was darn near impossible to move with a rake. To add insult to injury the whole garden was also covered with a carpet of tiny sprouted weeds. After some deliberation - and frustration - we decided the only thing to do was till the garden one more time! By doing this we were able to level out the soil quite and bit and were also able to till under all of the weeds. So in the long run it was a good plan- just not the one I had in mind at the beginning of the day! Fortunately, it is supposed to be quite warm today so I am hopeful the soil will be dry enough to work on tomorrow. What's another day's delay at this point!

One the bright side, all of the wet weather that we had in June has kept all of the fields nice and green. We are so very fortunate to not be suffering from drought and fires like so many other parts of the country.



The Sixth Tilling!

This afternoon Dad and I headed down to the big garden for another attempt at tilling the garden. After our horrible experience last Monday, where the garden was worse after- then before we tilled - I wasn't sure what to expect today. I am happy to report that we are making some progress! The garden is still far from perfect but it is much drier than it was a week ago. The clay clods are half as big and half as frequent as last week. I am also pleased that we were finally able to successfully roto-till in the compost that we dumped on the wet end last week. The soil had dried sufficiently enough that the tractor didn't sink and the compost mixed in with the clay soil nicely. It made a marked improvement at that end. Now I am going to wait a few days and see how the soil surface looks. If it dries enough to form a firm surface I am going to start laying out the garden. If not, we will have to do one more tilling!

While I was waiting for Dad and the tiller to arrive in the garden I spied this doe directly behind the back garden fence. I couldn't figure out why she wasn't running quickly away as the tractor arrived. But then I spied, hidden in the tall grass, her two twin fawns. I couldn't get a good picture of them because they were almost completely hidden in the tall grass. They couldn't be more that  a few days old.

One Step Forward, Four Steps Back

Late yesterday afternoon, Dad and I took the pickup truck to Lane Forest Products and got two scoops of blended mint compost. When we returned we dumped it in a dry corner of the garden. My idea was tonight we would spread the mint compost,with the help of our tractor, down in the wet end of the garden.

As you can see, after last weeks big rains, there is standing water and mud here. So Dad carefully distributed the compost and I raked it evenly over the area. Then Dad started to till the garden, for what I optimistically thought would be the fifth and final time. What happened next was a bit of a disaster.The more we tilled the worse that garden got. The soil was so wet and it just turned over in huge, clay clumps. And the wet end where we dumped the compost was so wet the tractor wheels just sunk and we weren't even able to really till in any compost. So after almost one month of tilling - and rainfall - the garden is in worse shape than it was in mid-May. To be truthful, I can't ever remember the whole garden being wetter than it is right now. I am at a bit of a loss how to proceed. We certainly can't till anymore until there is some major drying out.

On a happier note, Dorothy's rose in the garden has begun to bloom. I noticed the first blooms open yesterday and quite a few more opened in today's sunny weather.



Third Tilling

Tonight after work we headed down to the garden and made the third run though the soil with the tiller. While there are still some fairly wet areas that still need time to completely dry, much of the garden is in good shape. The soil has come a long way since Monday night's first tilling. I think I can start raking the ground flat and laying out the rows after one more tilling. If only rain wasn't in the forcast for Monday!       

This smart little Robin followed in the wake of the tiller, hunting for earthworms.

The First Tilling of the Year

Today was one of the "landmark" days on my annual gardening calendar. Today we were finally able to give the big garden its first tilling of the year. It is always interesting to look back and compare when we are able to accomplish this task each year. Last year in 2011, with all of the record rainfall, we weren't able to till until June 15th - a full month + one day later than this year! But in 2010, I recorded that we had the first tilling on May 14th - the exact same day as this year.

The Last Tilling

Tonight after work we headed down to the garden and did the 4th and final tilling for the year. In most areas of the garden the soil has dried out nicely. I will let it dry for a few more days and hopefully will begin the process of laying out the stakes and poles this weekend. There just might be a garden here yet!

The First Tilling of the Year!

Today we hit a milestone in the garden...the first tilling of the year! I think June 15th is a record for the latest that we have ever had to wait to do the first tilling. But tonight after work we went down and gave it a go. As usual, there were varying "conditions" to be found. Both ends of the garden had spots that were still horribly wet, while part of the middle had dried enough that a bit of dust rose up behind the tractor. Now at least all of the weeds have been turned under and a new level of drying can begin. The 10 day forecast looks promising, with just a few chances of showers ahead and some very warm days predicted for early next week.

The air was filled with the unique smell of damp earth being turned over.

The finished garden. You can see the damp area in the grass were the tractor left tracks. The garden is quite wet directly below that area. Come on sunny weather!

When I got home I was surprised with a gift of a new metal chicken for my garden. For now he is in the vegetable bed being a good rooster!

I also was given the two "Heavenly Blue" morning glory plants that I needed for the leaf trellis in the vegetable bed. I got them planted tonight and watered in well. They are very healthy plants and should grab onto the pole in no time at all.

While I worked in the vegetable bed, Parvati found the house vent were the dryer heat was escaping, just outside of the laundry room. She cleverly curled up on the vent and took a cap nap. When I picked her up to come inside for the night, her stomach was as warm as if she had been sleeping on an electric blanket. Leave it to a cat to find the best place to stay warm on a cool Spring evening.