a lot of other stuff going on.
Hope is the same color as this wool Pendleton blanket. It was my mother’s. She washed/dried it once by mistake and it shrunk a lot. But still she used it for cover in her last years. The blanket was a gift from her best friend–a fine woman named Lucy. I find the blanket all over the place. She travels with it. Like Linus. But never too far.
Seedlings are getting ready for the earth and I’m waffling back and forth–too early? too cold? go for it? We’re having a few nights this week in the mid 20’s. Maybe after that. The 10-day forecasts on weather.com help. But I wonder if it’s made me a bit less sensitive to the nuances that indicate how it might be. Sky color. Buds. Robins. Shadows. Birds. Worms. Soil temp. Smells. Knee/shoulder aches?
Last week I experimented. Set out one each of very tender spinach, broccoli, lettuce, radicchio and kale. That night the temp was 24 degrees. They survived but have not recovered. And the rest–outside today, beginning the hardening off process:
Some amazing women are working the garden with me this year. “Dirt devas.” This is where we are now:
rows ready for seedlings–rich soil separated by straw and leaves. Soon–cabbage, broccoli, kale, collards, swiss chard, turnips and potatoes. This is 1/3 of the garden. Spring garden/fall garden. The rest of the space will house tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, beets, lettuce, radicchio, radishes and sweet potatoes.
and outside the fenced in garden–the start of an herb bed and a modified hugelkultur bed for winter squash.
This cloth I’m liking. Haven’t added much except rows of stitching and noticing the shift in my attention. From cloth to dirt. Looking for the common thread.
following thread 
Wow! that’s a big garden and looks so ready… it’s the waxing moon in Cancer today & tomorrow, good for sowing & planting above ground vegetables but with those very cold temperatures maybe wait for the equinox on the 21st
your cloth is lovely & Hope looks very happy with the change of circumstances in her life!
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oh …there is..i measured this morning 11 inches of snow on the back deck..the deck..not the ground..which is somewhere down there..i am enjoying the sparkling snow..and the crisp clear air…but then i think that it is almost mid march..last year the sugaring was almost over …the weather so warm….and i look at your beautifully prepared beds and think that it is not yet mud season..that has not even started…and hope there is either a long slow just delayed seasonal progression..that we still have a spring into summer season… ok i stop…because there is certainly enough cloth here to make me smile and stop wishing for earth..here and now..and go searching for cloth…still in boxes..marked but hidden….
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i’m wondering if the move is complete? yes, mud season–i remember it well from the farm in WV. the world was a sea of mud, red clay mud…so sticky it could literally pull your boots off. well, here’s hoping you skip over that this year and head straight into a gorgeous spring.
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hi Mo! the garden is about 45 x 22–good size. glad you brought up planting with the moon. i’ve always tried to plant above-ground bearing plants in the light of the moon–and root crops in the dark of the moon. but a lot of times it just doesn’t work out that way for a sundry of reasons. in your experience, which do you think is more important? the phase of the moon–or the sign, i.e. Cancer?
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I like to sow and transplant seedlings of leafy annuals on the waxing moon in a water sign- Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces
(when I was younger I would plant by moonlight but this is not necessary)
NB for planting out seedlings I usually wait until after the Spring Equinox
Root crops are best sown on the waning moon in a water sign- Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces
The fourth quarter of the moon is a good time for weeding, turning the compost & pruning where you don’t want any regrowth
However if it’s a searingly hot dry wind or a bitter freezing cold day or torrential rain don’t plant & wait for a better day.
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Love this piece. Are there any that I don’t love? The garden looks fantastic and I already envision it overflowing with good things. Bravo!
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it’s not too late!
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TELL about the dirt divas, TELLLLLL!
it huge and ready. a great garden with all the possibility that
moments like this bring. We are going to need to Put Things By,
aren’t we. if it all Goes, we must. do you can or freeze?
or both?
Tell about the Dirt Divas!
and i love the Cloth VERY much, please keep putting her here
as she goes…it’s a Fine Fine cloth….
and little Hope, well…she’s got it going.
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well–the dirt divas–three good women who want to learn more about raising food–canning and freezing. yes, i do can and freeze–have canned since 1971–self-taught in the beginning when raising food was the difference between having it or not. would like to dry stuff as well, w/o having to use a dehydrator–but this climate is sooooooooooo humid. tried drying beans in WV–leather britches–but never actually ate the mess i strung.
it’s a little different now–not much but a bit. this garden may yield a lot–it could–but then last year we had so much rain and everything except the indigo blighted or got weirdness. i’m reading that we’ll have more el nino/nina whatever this summer as well.
but you know–there’s just something about it–i can’t help myself and at the front end, the potential feels limitless. so yes, i’m enthused and hopeful. and it is wonderful having interested, friendly help. and of course, everyone will share the bounty.
and yes, the cloth is helping in its own way–and Hope? well, last night Hope learned that life was about more than just survival. last night on her own she picked up a little stuffed thingy i got her and ran around the house with it for quite a while. deep belly laughter from the observer. it was good.
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such a large garden, i want to make mine larger but i find it hard to keep up with. i like your cloth, the part in the middle.
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