Earlier this week I was digging around in the pantry and found a bunch of tiny red potatoes from last years garden sprouting away. I took a quick look at my gardening calendar and even tho it said January 03 was the optimum date for planting, after I looked at the weather forecast and didn't see any freezes predicted anytime soon, I headed outside.
I started pulling out weeds, some form of grass with runners that reach straight to hell. You pull and pull and it breaks and you find another section and pull, it never ends. I yanked out my jalapeno plants, talk about hot. We couldn't even eat them, so out they go.
I trimmed my bell pepper plants, hoping they will make it through until warmer weather hits. The second year on peppers is always amazing, so my fingers are crossed. I weeded their area and mulched with leaves from the yard before moving on to the green beans.
All of the green bean plants had died in the last freeze. I pulled them out, chopping them up fine to throw under the rabbit cage to compost. I weeded this area, too. My plan was to put the potatoes here, but I watched the sun and the area was shady. Maybe it's the time of year because I don't remember that row being in the shade before. I collected more leaves off the lawn and mulched the bean row heavily until the sun decided to warm that soil again.
I pulled out the droopy, dead squash plants and chopped them to join the beans in the compost pile. I returned to weed some more, pulling up dead basil, dead cantaloupe plants, a dead peanut plant that had given me one peanut and then I trimmed off the dead branches on the blueberry bushes. The term bush is used loosely here. The blueberry bushes look like someone took a skinny stick and stuck it in the dirt, but I am still hoping they will come around.
I stepped back to see where I could plant the potatoes and chose the old squash site. I dug an 8 inch deep 4 ft square, squishing the white slug worm things that love my garden. They actually do a wonderful job in the compost pile chewing up the refuse and creating beautiful rich dark dirt, but don't belong in with the vegetables. The slugs don't know the difference between compost and plant, so for now they get squished when I see them. If I had chickens, they would absolutely love me, but that isn't going to happen until we get our wooden fence.
As I was digging in the dirt, I was so happy to see how rich it looked and such a perfect texture. If it weren't for periodically touching the slug things, I would have been in heaven. They really are disgusting.
I planted the potato pieces, eyes up, covered them with some dirt and called it a day. The garden looks so much better now. I need to get my carrots planted sometime this week and possibly garlic, too. My broccoli is growing like gang busters. I've harvested a few heads, nothing as big as the grocery store, but they are decent sized. I'm not sure about the peas, they are looking weird, but I'll keep my eye on them.
How wonderful to garden in December, digging in the dirt, feeling the sun warm your back. This is the life.
