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I planted a bunch of garlic bulbils between the two giant-garlic plants. Did not cultivate first because there are volunteer mustard plants all over.
I planted sixteen left-over multiplier bulbs in the row with the winter onions. Also hoed up some of the pile of dirt where I dug the potatoes.
The winter onions would be harvestable if we were hard up for fresh vegetables, but I'm going to wait until there is a little more on them. I think I'll re-plant each hill I dig.
laid three sprouted potatoes on the west edge of the garden and put two shovels of dirt on each.
Today is "wash hot with bleach and plant potatoes" day.
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I planted the potatoes. The soil was amenable to planting the onion sets too, but the cold wind wasn't. [snip]
Last summer I dug up an unwanted clump of garlic chives and put the roots on the wall of the raised flower bed to dry. Whenever I passed the bed, I would grab the tangle of roots and whap it to knock some more dirt out.
It stayed on the wall all winter in the drying wind and the freezing cold.
It's sprouting.
The next time I want to get rid of a garlic chive, I'll dry the roots in the outdoor fireplace.
I planted all the sets I bought at Big R and most of the multiplier sets in a double row on the east side of the garden. Also planted a few multipliers in the left-over winter-onion row, extending the line I'd made of left-over eating bulbs on 21 February. Put a small number back into the cupboard in case of crop failure.
Then I fertilized them without noticing that the 12-12-12 had been contaminated with grass seed.
Three of the six hills of potatos are flourishing, and the middle one of the sets has sprouted, but two of the sprouted grocery-store potatoes show no signs of life, if you don't count volunteer mustard.
All the onions are flourishing, except the left- over onions extending the line; perhaps they were feeble bulbs. Lots of weeds to dispose of, particularly a chickweed-looking thing and a bindweed lookalike. I made considerable inroads this afternoon.
It's past time to start harvesting the bulbil buds of the winter onions.
The grass in the onions isn't too bad so far. It has, however, begun dragging dirt up when it is pulled.
8 May 2017
I pulled a rhubarb flowering stem this morning, and another one yesterday. This makes three.
All leaf stalks are as green as grass, except those that are dying. Yesterday's flower stalk was red at the bottom, and I *think* the petioles were red last summer.
I ate some winter-onion buds yesterday. I'm still harvesting mustard greens by thinning the plants.
Moved the savory to the fern bed, cut off a bit that seemed to have roots and re-planted it in the strawberry bed, planted a strawberry dug up with the savory in the fern bed, moved a couple of small thyme plants to the bald spot around the rain barrel. Pulled a lot of weeds in the lily- of-the-valley bed, including all the thistles that I noticed.
After Dave, at my suggestion, mowed off the south end of the bed, I pulled a couple more thistles and most of the creeping charlie. Dandelions mostly broke off.
Still thinning the mustard, but some of the plants are big enough to spare some big leaves. I've cut off more than half the winter-onion bulbils. They are starting to have small bulbs instead of flower-like structures. There are lots of bulbils on the winter onions south of the house; I may harvest some of them when they are big enough to mess with but aren't yet in need of peeling.
Last time I saw it, the unwanted clump of garlic chives was sitting on the railroad tie beside the outdoor fireplace -- still green.
After taking out the garbage, I wanted to thin the mustard for a snack, but broke off three flowering stems instead. I ate one and put the other two into the potato salad.
Yesterday I bought a pot of purple basil and planted it in three places in the southern raised bed, near the greek oregano, which is flourishing.
Not too long ago, Dave dumped a flat, maggoty duck on the bare-dirt end of the compost heap. Not being in a mood to bury it properly, I dumped several shovels of dirt on it. Now I'm wondering how long I should wait before disturbing the grave. Probably a year would do it; perhaps less, since the duck was advanced when I buried it.
Perhaps I should keep a pre-dug grave in the garden.
Neglected the garden a lot during the hot weather, but I've made good progress toward reclaiming it from the weeds. In a few days, I should be able to push the five-tine cultivator all over, at which time I'll switch to the slicing hoe and start removing weeds instead of thinning them.
I got most of the weeds out of the winter onions today.
The multipliers were packed into three strawberry boxes (one quart and two pints) and put away in a paper bag in the cupboard several days ago. The reserve sets are laid on a newspaper for culinary use. The crisper has a couple of handfuls that I turned up while cultivating. I find a clump nearly every time I push the five-tine hoe. Some bulbils off the winter onions are in the crisper drawer with the multipliers.
Also have the bought-set onions on another sheet of newspaper.
I've harvested two or three hills of potatoes -- only two or three in each one, but we don't eat many potatoes on account of Dave's diabetes. When harvesting today, I turned over a yard of the north end with the spading fork, then later I extended the cultivatored area to touch the spaded area.
My plan was to throw all the dirt on the first hill dug (I dumped the dirt from that on other hills to ensure no green potatoes), but much of the dirt slips between the tines of the spading fork, so I comb the dirt filling the hole toward the hill. That should turn up missed potatoes as effectively as breaking clods on top of the hill does.
I think that at my next harvesting session, the hill will start growing toward the unharvested part of the row.
Today pushed the slicing hoe around for the first time, and got the garden mostly weed-free, except for the unharvested part of the potato row. I planted three winter-onion bulbils, extending the row of winter onions. Put twigs on two of the bulbs, and a stake that says "spinach" on the one on the end.
There are two giant-garlic plants standing. I left them to grow again next year. One is a clump. Probably dormant on the bottom; if I still made bread-and-butter pickles, I'd dig it up and divide it.
We are going to move the asparagus bed to the east side of the garden. I've got until the asparagus goes dormant to raise the railroad tie on that side. Dave sprayed the grass with Roundup, and also put the bed liner of the pickup on the spot where the bed is to be. I plan to use the spare railroad tie for the east side of the bed; we'll have to buy something for the north and south ends.
The asparagus plant in the corner of the garden broke off when I wasn't looking, so I ran the slicing hoe over the spot. That leave winter onions and two giant garlics as the only plants to be cultivated around, but I plan to plant garlic bulbils Real Soon Now. Perhaps I'll extend the winter-onion row to the end of the garden.
The space between the winter onions and the east side of the garden is reserved for potatoes next year.
I bought ninety days of pills on 4 November 2016.
And ninety more on 20 January 2017
Opened Levothyroxin of second purchase 17 February
2017
Opened Fenofibrate 21 February 2017
Opened Omeprazole 28 February 2017
Bought another ninety days on 2 May 2017. I'd ordered them the day before, but the web site told me I hadn't, so I was surprised when Dave relayed a message that they were ready while I was shopping for cake ingredients.
18 May 2017 opened Fenofibrate.
19 May 2017 opened Levothyroxin
31 May 2017 opened Omeprazole
Late August: started taking PreserVision. Bought 120 capsules.
All the pills I bought in late August have been
opened.
Tooth powder made: 1/2 cup soda, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. fennel seed. Most of the fennel seed stayed in the tea strainer. I hope not too much of the salt stuck to it.
Tooth powder made: 1/2 cup soda, 1/2 tsp. salt, a sprig of dried peppermint. Began using this batch on 3 May 2017.