The Winner is!

This week, the winner has been the garden. Monday evening, after weeks of waiting for the rain to stop for more than 2 days, we came home to a disked garden. So, while I should be up in the studio working on Baby Blankets like the one you see here, I am in the garden, defining planting beds with my little bitty tiller, and putting in plants.





So far, this week, I have done 5 rows of corn, 24 ft long, 2 rows of tomatoes 45ft long, 2 rows of potatoes 45 ft long. I also put in 4 squash plants, and transplanted the lettuce that I had started elswhere. After the initial big two days, I have begun to slow my pace a little. It is after all only May 13! One of the best gardens I ever had was planted in June! Today all I did was transfer the lettuce over and water the tomatoes. Tomorrow I will probably put in a row or two of bush beans and plant some squash hills, and put in the watermelons. Later on this weekend or maybe even next week even, I will transplant all the basil I have going in the nursery bed, I am going to try to transplant some carrots I have started too, and I think that will be just about it. I will do 3 more corn plantings, but I will do those in 2 weeks intervals.

This is a huge garden for us this year. Once we moved all the animals over to the new barn, it opened up a new, well fertilized space for vegetables, 45ft x 90ft. I wasn't sure I would be able to fill it up, but I am going thru the real estate like crazy!


Then it will be up to us to keep up with the weeds. I have tried many different ways to keep them at bay, mostly deep mulch type of stuff, lasagne gardening, or deep hay gardening a la Ruth Stout. I have come to the conclusion that these people must not have bermuda grass and ground ivy in their region! It drives me and Hubby to distraction! So this year, we are going to put down gardeners cloth under the squash and the watermelons, since they are of the sprawley nature. The Tomatoes we are going to tie up between stakes, to keep them off the ground, and we are going to use the hoe some each day. I may have to come up with a new motto to keep us motivated. " A row a day keeps the weeds away" or something like it.

I would take a picture of the garden right now but it is raining. I will take one soon so that you can see my handy work. I should do progressive photos over on my blog. Maybe once a week from the same angle. That would be really cool, but who am I kidding, that would mean I would have to remember!


Once the gardening for the day is finished, I have been doing some spinning in the late afternoons. It is a nice soothing, quiet, and cool way to recover from the hard work of the morning. I have begun to add just a little water/oil mixture to the days wool, and while it is to make the wool easier to spin, it also has a wonderful restoring quality to my hands.


That is about all on the fiber front. I suppose there is only so much creative energy for each day. Never fear the garden is almost in, and the looms are beginning to call, reminding me of coming events; craft shows, the etsy shop and newborn babies that are going to need a gift blanket soon, before they get too big!


Until next time, Happy Weaving, Spinning and Gardening, Tina