I have really gotten on top of the mulching this year. In the past I have procrastinated or made excuses not to mulch, but mulching is really doing yourself a favor - it conserves moisture, keeps weeds down, and encourages soil life from earthworms to beneficial microbes.
Cabbage plant - still needs mulching
Potato plants doing great! They were easy to plant right under the grass-clipping mulch and they are thriving. The plastic sour cream container is doing great too!
Comfrey plant from a tiny start a friend gave me 2 years ago. Comfrey is very easy to grow - it can take over too but it is very beneficial. This plant has been left without water in a pot for too long, planted in the middle of the lawn (I'm still not sure where I got that weird idea...) and then dug up and moved to this spot. I will dry the roots and leaves to make a healing oil and salve. Comfrey contains allantoin (a common ingredient in lotions and other cosmetics) which helps damaged skin regenerate really quickly. The dark green oil is very healing for chapping, cuts, and scrapes.
The chicks are now outside foraging all day and in the garage only at night.
Chickens love wood chips and they like to scratch it off the black fabric mulch that the previous owners so thoughtfully provided so we don't have to weed the ornamental plantings. Yay! More time to grow food!
Trampoline gardening:
Where this used to be, we now have a bed for an herb garden:
I noticed the area under the trampoline had been cleared of grass by being shaded and by chickens scratching around in the nice shade. Being a sucker for grass-free ground, I got Peter and Rose to help me move the trampoline so this can be our herb garden. It has a lot of rocks and full sun, both of which are good for Mediterranean herbs like rosemary, oregano and thyme. The rocks absorb the heat and reflect it back, which those plants enjoy. I am clearing the residual grasses around the edges then I will get my herbs in. It will be perennial culinary herbs as well as medicinals (and many herbs fit into both categories - food as medicine and all that jazz!)
Photo credits: Rose Gustafson and Celeste Gustafson
Your garden is looking great!
ReplyDeleteGreen with envy! Everything looks awesome! Can't wait to see what goes in the herb garden.
ReplyDelete