Square Foot Gardening on Ten Acres

Surely I have addressed this topic before. Most of my land is woods. Even so, I have always planted more than I can care for. Call it a bad habit brought on by the flowerless winter months, when I forget how many perennials I already have.

What Izzy calls the Bump Out planting is now in bloom. That's where I moved the fence so I could plant in the better soil on the hillside adjoining the garden.

The extra-rainy spring has been cruel on the veggies, which are now in the pathetic category. Perhaps they don't like four inches of water at a time, such as we got a week ago. They are so picky.

Pulling and shearing grasses and weeds has become an endless enterprise. Picking a square foot to start on is the trick.

One thing that has always helped me organize a totally out of control situation is the Old Farmers Almanac. The one page that is vitally important to me is the one that tells the Moon's Astrological Place for every day. The sign changes every two or three days. Some signs are good for weeding, some for planting and a few are not mentioned. Those days are hammock days, I suspect.

The key to the moon signs is found on the opposite page of the Almanac.

 I have noticed that it is easier to weed on the days specified for that chore. Weeding must be done on other days, but the weeds are not in a mood to come out and break off, leaving the roots to deal with another time.

Why the guide is important is it gives me some place to start. Sitting in the air conditioning, it is too easy to become overwhelmed by what's out there awaiting my attention in what is now a sauna. Nothing will do but to get out the door and pick an easy task. My favorite is dead-heading the beautiful daylilies.

The daylilies, which I brag about shamelessly every year in this blog, are beautiful even with a few grasses sticking out. They apparently love rain, the more the better. They get huge, like these Dominic early ones. Look at how many flowers are in the making!

These are Wayside Painted Ladies, always gorgeous and huge.

These are either Rose or Rose Crush, both in the hillside garden. The three daylilies there are huge, as seen in the first photo, nearly obscured by tall grasses along the fence.

All the my named daylilies are from Roots and Rhizomes. I am tempted to have them remove my name from their catalog mailing list because I cannot seem to stop ordering more and I'm out of spots for them.

It's a Jungle Out Here

Mother Nature has been over-watering most of the month. Some things like it, like trees, weeds and frogs.

Even some trees have had enough, though.  These are the tops of  tall trees that used to be on the far side of the Grand River. Now they are in the river.

It all happened in a few days. On Tuesday, there were heavy rains to the north. The ground was already saturated. On Wednesday, the river was across the road and into the bottom land fields. The water crossed those fields upriver and then rejoined it by the bridge. It appears to be a large lake with a boat launch ramp.

This bridge is normally is high above the river. On my side, the elevation is greater, but it is over my paths. I assume so, because I can't get down there. My hopes are high that the poison ivy has been killed by the scouring waters.

It's been too wet to mow or pull weeds. The ground was squishy underfoot and mud splattered up from the grass. The veggies I planted are sickly. The irises seemed to like it and produced lots of blooms. The peonies did well until that day of recurring torrential rains.

I'm happy to report the river crested last night, but I don't think the road will be seen anytime soon. Imagine a gravel road at the bottom of a deep muddy river. The prognosis is not good.

In desperation, I have taken up growing flowers in containers. Lis helped me get this all together.  Izzy and Carolyn brought me plants for my birthday. I made a trip to the greenhouse for more, with my birthday money from Chris. My family  knows what I love. The plants all huddled together on the dining room table during the thunderstorms.

I also got a razor sharp hoe that I am itching to use, as soon as the ground dries out a bit. I am hopeful because it's been three days without a thunderstorm.