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Our garden didn't happen this year
Oct. 5th, 2012 01:11 pmAnd I swear, if my mother ever even THINKS the word "morning glory" again, I will beat her with a shovel until she recovers from the madness.
In an effort to have something like a garden next year, I've been yanking up every last weed (morning glories all) and turning the soil. I'm running very late, but I hope to have my cover crop sown by the end of the week, and if the warm weather continues just a liiiiiitle bit longer I should be fine. Hopefully. Those weeds will do as mulch if - *sigh* - I can pull off all the seeds. Damn morning glories. Maybe I'll just bag 'em and throw them out. I hate to do it to so much organic matter, but I don't want to risk even one spreading next year. Even with the cover crop, next spring I'm layering the entire garden with newspapers to smother the morning glories, plant on top of the papers. It's a nuisance, but what can you do?
You know, it's amazing how the garden is just teeming with life after a year of total neglect. I've found little bitty brown snakes, and more salamanders than I can shake a stick at, and several different varieties of cricket, and lots of spiders.
Anyway, anyway, anyway! I've finally moved most of the huge pile of rocks from the middle of the yard (a. don't ask and b. if my mother ever leaves garbage out like that again, it's time for the shovel) so I'm able to start turning the soil. I'm going to do it in shifts, turn a bit and then sow where I've turned. I dithered a bit at one of the few cultivated plots, kale and some sort of bean, and finally decided that if the bean or squash or whatever-it-was hadn't produced by now it damn well wasn't going to, so I could rip it up and toss it in the pile with the rest of the weeds. So I did so and cheerfully stuck my shovel in the dirt. And dug up a... something. Picked it up, turned it over - omg!
We had sweet potatoes. I hadn't planted sweet potatoes, so it took me a minute to work out where they were from, and then I called the nieces over.
Me: COME HERE! You want to see this!
Ana: What... is that turnips?
Eva: No....
Me: Oh, you won't be as happy with this discovery as I am.
Nieces: Well, what is it?
Me: I'll give you a hint. It's delicious. Nutritious. Aaaaaaand - cheap! Very cheap.
Ana: Sweet potato???
Me: Yup! Sweet potato!
Eva: Oh. But...
Me: And I didn't plant it. Do you know why we have sweet potato? It's all because of you!
Nieces (distastefully): Us????
Me: Yup. Remember when you tried to pull one over on me and tossed that sweet potato out the window so I couldn't cook it?
Them: Yes...
Me: And by the time I found it it wasn't in great shape, so I didn't bother to bring it in?
Them: Um....
Me: Well, this is it!
Ana: There's five of them! No, six!
Me: Yup.
*giggles*
I do love sweet potatoes. They ARE delicious, and they ARE nutritious, and they ARE cheap. Filling, too. As soon as the nieces see a sweet potato on their plate they declare that they're full, even if they haven't touched their food. Very economical, sweet potatoes :)
In an effort to have something like a garden next year, I've been yanking up every last weed (morning glories all) and turning the soil. I'm running very late, but I hope to have my cover crop sown by the end of the week, and if the warm weather continues just a liiiiiitle bit longer I should be fine. Hopefully. Those weeds will do as mulch if - *sigh* - I can pull off all the seeds. Damn morning glories. Maybe I'll just bag 'em and throw them out. I hate to do it to so much organic matter, but I don't want to risk even one spreading next year. Even with the cover crop, next spring I'm layering the entire garden with newspapers to smother the morning glories, plant on top of the papers. It's a nuisance, but what can you do?
You know, it's amazing how the garden is just teeming with life after a year of total neglect. I've found little bitty brown snakes, and more salamanders than I can shake a stick at, and several different varieties of cricket, and lots of spiders.
Anyway, anyway, anyway! I've finally moved most of the huge pile of rocks from the middle of the yard (a. don't ask and b. if my mother ever leaves garbage out like that again, it's time for the shovel) so I'm able to start turning the soil. I'm going to do it in shifts, turn a bit and then sow where I've turned. I dithered a bit at one of the few cultivated plots, kale and some sort of bean, and finally decided that if the bean or squash or whatever-it-was hadn't produced by now it damn well wasn't going to, so I could rip it up and toss it in the pile with the rest of the weeds. So I did so and cheerfully stuck my shovel in the dirt. And dug up a... something. Picked it up, turned it over - omg!
We had sweet potatoes. I hadn't planted sweet potatoes, so it took me a minute to work out where they were from, and then I called the nieces over.
Me: COME HERE! You want to see this!
Ana: What... is that turnips?
Eva: No....
Me: Oh, you won't be as happy with this discovery as I am.
Nieces: Well, what is it?
Me: I'll give you a hint. It's delicious. Nutritious. Aaaaaaand - cheap! Very cheap.
Ana: Sweet potato???
Me: Yup! Sweet potato!
Eva: Oh. But...
Me: And I didn't plant it. Do you know why we have sweet potato? It's all because of you!
Nieces (distastefully): Us????
Me: Yup. Remember when you tried to pull one over on me and tossed that sweet potato out the window so I couldn't cook it?
Them: Yes...
Me: And by the time I found it it wasn't in great shape, so I didn't bother to bring it in?
Them: Um....
Me: Well, this is it!
Ana: There's five of them! No, six!
Me: Yup.
*giggles*
I do love sweet potatoes. They ARE delicious, and they ARE nutritious, and they ARE cheap. Filling, too. As soon as the nieces see a sweet potato on their plate they declare that they're full, even if they haven't touched their food. Very economical, sweet potatoes :)
