October 2021 Update
Raised Beds Begin
So many bricks.
Starting a raised bed. The area around the bed needs to be slightly more level: in hindsight I should’ve dug deeper to start. I will be correcting that shortly. The plan is to make the beds two blocks high and fill them with wood scraps (hugelkulture), leaves, woodchips, e.t.c to decompose over the winter. In the spring it should be a nice layer of compost to mix in with our dirt.
Why Woodchips Rock
Earlier this summer I got a load of wood chips delivered, and have been layering them in this portion of the yard along with hay and cardboard for the last couple months. Even though that’s a pretty short time, you can see a huge difference in the quality of the soil.
A part of the yard with no amendments made:
(Ew it’s sandy and eroding everywhere)
Area under the wood chips:
(Look how lovely and dark that soil is getting!)
Grapes!
I’ve got grape vines! The trellis system is still under construction but the grapes came earlier than I anticipated. I have three Concord grape plants. Concord is an American grape variety that is supposed to be good for beginners and has a variety of uses, from eating to juicing to canning (unfortunately not a choice variety for wine, alas).
I’ve never grown grapes before (though we did have some along a fence in our yard growing up). Hopefully a rousing success?
Greenery Updates
My kale has started sprouting, FINALLY.
Spinach is doing nicely as well; they’ve got their first ‘true leaves’ coming in. I thinned these recently but it looks like i will likely need to thin them again soon. Also, they are maybe a bit leggy, like they’re stretching for sunlight, but I moved them into a warmer spot so hopefully that will resolve itself.
My lettuce is starting to get true leaves as well; I don’t think they look as healthy as the spinach but I kinda feel like I’m lettuce-cursed at this point so that tracks.
Peas! Got our first pea harvest this week. Not too many pods yet but enough for a small snack while I was in the garden. This variety can be eaten straight off the vine.
Forestry Finds
In perhaps the funnest update, I had a member of the Kentucky Division of Forestry come out and survey our woods on Monday. The forester who came out will write up a management plan for me now that she’s done the survey; but even just walking the woods with her was a super educational experience. Our woods are actually much healthier than I anticipated. Pictured: a persimmon fruit that fell from one of our trees. They are a native tree and the fruits are edible. They taste kind of like a really mushy banana? Interesting for sure. If you have this or a similar program in your state, I’d highly recommend it (it’s fo free too).