The clouds rolled in, but it was still warm enough this morning that I worked up a sweat wearing a T-shirt. Mainly, I shoveled compost. I finished the shelf supports in the greenhouse, but it may not work. I could not get the frame spreaders as tight as the instructions wanted me to, resulting in me not being able to get the spreaders on these shelves tight either. That meant that I couldn’t bolt them together correctly. So I did a sorry job, but it was the best I could do. I may just put in my own shelves.
Anyway, I took a few photos, remembering that it is always good to take photos in January so that you can have “before” pictures for your fabulous “after” photos later.
I laid down wet newspaper and straw where I plan to plant more herbs in Zone One, and cardboard where paths will go. I’ll probably put wood chips on the paths, to mark where it’s okay to walk and to make them look nice.
A few leeks are still in the greenhouse. I planted some lettuce near the back left (Buttercrunch Bibb, Red Oak Leaf, Rouge d’Hiver, Black-Seeded Simpson), and a few Danvers Half-Long carrots and French Breakfast Radishes. Eventually the beds will go around all the sides, or I might leave the right side free for storage and a table. We’ll see.
Since the weather is supposed to get a lot colder tonight, I went ahead and covered the lettuce patch with a Reemay-covered wire cage, and a few plants in recycled soda bottle mini-greenhouses.
I extended the pathway with the fieldstone pieces I dug up from under the greenhouse about ten inches down.
I put plastic sheeting on top of the raised beds not to warm them, but to discourage cats from digging in them. When I get my order from Fedco, I’ll put Agribon-covered tunnels over these beds. This afternoon, I planted a few carrots, turnips, and a couple of kinds of radishes next to a few transplanted leeks since the moon is right for planting root vegetables.
The onions are coming up all snuggly in their thick straw mulch, but something is eating the fava beans. It looks like bug damage. I had a good pot of turnip greens the other night. For a while I wondered if I could ever stand to eat turnip greens or field peas again. I just needed a break from them though.
slowly she turned 