La Belle's Hobby Farm: Another Brick in the (Garden) Wall

‎A farm is a manipulative creature. There is no such thing as finished. Work comes in a stream and has no end. There are only the things that must be done now and things that can be done later. The threat the farm has got on you, the one that keeps you running from can until can't, is this: do it now or some living thing will wilt or suffer or die. It’s blackmail really.
~ Kristin Kimball, The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love

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nother brick in the garden wall ~ or at least, in the planning of said garden: The Farmer’s Almanac Guide to Planting.

So of course I am diligently searching the web for as much information on gardening as I can so that my veggies, fruits, flowers, and herbs don’t die before their time.  Usually it’s death by starvation, thirst, or plain old neglect.  Sometimes they simply don’t grow because I planted them too late, too early, too deep, or too shallow.  You live and learn, but learning that way can get expensive. Hence: extensive reading, charting, and check-listing.

Which is why I nearly screamed like a 1960s tween at a Beatles concert when I saw that it was not too late to plant sugar snap peas (Yes! Go me!) and then did a face-palm when I realized that my plans for this big 1 acre garden forgot to factor in how to water it (Doh!  Add sprinklers to the “Buy” list).

I also decided I needed another visual aid to help me stay on track with all my garden chores.  Voila!

Excel nerd, remember?

This calendar will also help me track when a crop was planted, when they were last watered, what kind of compost or soil was added, etc.

Next step: the actual garden plan: i.e. where each crop will live.  This is important especially for sustainable gardening.  Certain flowers need to be planted near certain plants to help ward off pests.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

This should have been published yesterday, but due to the snow blizzard that wasn't, it didn't go out.  Mea culpa!