On Monday, E and I did a little gardening. I love it! The weeds are starting to pop-up all over, so I am taking my friend Lisa's advice to put down some cardboard and mulch around my mature plants.
I had hoped to buy a straw bale to use on top of the cardboard, but the one and only source I had was all sold out. So, I decided to be frugal and use what I had on hand! Since we have not treated our backyard with chemicals, I raked up some of the grass clippings to use for some mulch. However, this did not amount to very much mulch... Next, I turned to the abundance of dried pine needles that cover the ground under two enormous pines on the south side of our property. I've read mixed reviews about using pine needles as mulch for vegetables. The biggest drawback being that some people believe it makes the soil too acidic. But many others think that is not a major issue.
So, seeing as this is a year of experimentation (and frugality), E and I filled up our little sled with the pine-straw and spread it out over the cardboard. It looks pretty! (Doesn't E look like she's up to something?)
In other news, my
tomato plant has clearly bit the dust (it's that limp, straggly white thing in the photo):
There's a Master Gardener sale at the county fairgrounds on Saturday and I plan to go check it out. I bet their tomatoes look better than this!
Not a single
lettuce plant survived, so E and I planted some more romaine and crisphead seeds. The bibb seeds we planted on the 9th have sprouted up. We also planted a little row of
scallions to see what happens. I need to plant my
zucchini soon, as the nine squares I've set apart for it are being encroached upon!
On a happy note, my
shallots have all sprouted and are quickly growing wonderful, green, spiky shoots:
The
sweet onions got the grass mulch:
And if you look closely, I believe there are two little cilantro sproutlings that survived the great transplant tragedy of 2011 and are going to make it after all:
Here's the latest garden snapshot:
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