Kerstin burned the brush pile that was situated right where we planned to put our potato and squash/melon patch right before Alden and I left for Passover. The wood was still green and it had rained a whole bunch, thus we managed not so much a burn pile as a smoke pile that smoldered for a few hours and then wimped out. Seeing as we were picking up bees the next day and our pile was immediately upwind from their hive, we had to burn under less than optimal conditions. Enough brush burned that we felt we'd made a dent, but there was too much left behind to simply till it in. Kerstin worked all yesterday evening and this morning moving the remaining charred branches to our new pile further back in the yard.
Burn pile before...
Garden plot after! Kerstin tilled in the smallest pieces of charcoal, and lawn to create one large, new garden plot. Hooray for husbands!! I trenched the perimeter to allow fencing to be placed about 1 foot below ground and Kerstin put in the posts and the fence itself. We should be ready to plant our potatoes within a week or two.
Alden and I picked up our potato order from Fedco today and I'm so excited about the varieties we're trying this year. Left to right: Yukon Gold, Romanze, Adirondack Blue, Adirondack Red, and Desiree. I've also ordered some northern-adapted sweet potatoes that will join these guys in the plot in mid May.
Alden got his first tractor ride of the season and had a great time wearing his industrial ear protection.
We grew kale in a corner of one garden last year and it self seeded, almost to a ridiculous degree. The emerging seedling cohort looks and feels like a lush ground cover. They have practically taken over a whole row of our garden.
The first asparagus shoots are starting to emerge. It's officially spring!
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