Productive Weekend

We have been working very hard lately and the gardens are looking great. All of our plants and seeds are in. There is about a 16 square foot piece of garden left open due to the fact that we went vertical with our squash, cucumbers, and pumpkins. Although it seems like a waste of good garden space we are going to try growing sweet corn. We read about a variety of red sweet corn in Organic Gardening magazine called "Ruby Queen". Unlike most colored vegetables it maintains the unique red color when it's cooked. The area we have left open is right next to our squash and pumpkin patch. Squash and corn are natural companions and are often planted along with pole beans. This "three sisters" grouping was practiced by Native Americans as a way to increase yield. The corn offers support for the beans who in turn supplies much needed nitrogen to the soil. The beans also act as a sunscreen for the delicate leaves of the squash. The prickly vines of the squash help deter raccoons from attacking the corn by making it uncomfortable to walk in the garden as well as obscuring their view of potential dangers. Raccoons LOVE sweet corn but have to be able to see their surroundings, if they can't see danger, they will stay away (in theory).

We attended a local plant sale on Saturday and were able to find over twenty different perennials we didn't have in our garden. For less than thirty dollars we were able to increase the size of our gardens along the house and add a shade garden under the trees. Everything is still pretty small but we see the potential and are excited to see everything grow and fill in. The challenging part has been cutting out the grass and sifting through loads of rocks and debris on our 100 year old homestead. We have found many interesting things over the years including many nails and broken glass but also marbles, jacks, and a brass garden hose nozzle. It's nice to stand back at the end of the day and marvel that where there is now a garden was once a rocky weedy piece of lawn!

A local visitor stopped by the neighborhood on Saturday. Jon was working back by the bee yard and looked up to see the neighbor's Newfoundland dog roaming the back yard. But wait, the neighbors don't have a Newfie. A second look confirmed that it was in fact a very large, very healthy black bear! The bear was about twenty yards away and just walking around. Jon alerted Erin and Ceili and returned with a camera. The bear ate some seed from a bird feeder and continued on its way. Very cool to see in the middle of the morning, however, we hope it will stick to bird seed and stay away from the bees. Guess that's why we installed the electric fence for the bee yard.