Solidarity Garden 2020

Despite our multiple tillage passes, the plot has some grass resprouting and so I had to turn to my big guns - the mattock - shape the beds.

This morning I went to the garden with the goal of building a few more beds and checking in on the seedlings.  It's been dry for more than a week and I had been concerned about water as I don't have an irrigation setup at the Garden, or even a very good watering can. Luckily it rained some last night, enough to drench the seeds and so I didn't need to water this morning. I was able to build a couple more beds, bringing the total number to 12, with 5 left to go. It's a slow process but satisfying in its way.  I also walked down the 5 beds that I have already planted and checked for seedlings.  There were just a few popping up, and also plenty of weeds.  So I wanted to devote this blog entry on weeds in the garden and what they mean.  Below are (clockwise from top left) henbit, common geranium, and field bindweed or morning glory. What is a weed? My favorite definition of a weeds is a "plant out of place".  Most of the weeds we know do have thei...

The Earthway is a simple machine that can plant seeds quickly.  This short video is an introduction to the seeder and its parts. It uses interchangeble plates sized for different types of seeds - here is  the medium radish plate. Here's peas in the seeder.  It's a good idea to check the row as you go to watch the seeds fall and make sure it's working.  You should walk at a pretty quick pace to get good distribution of the seed. And here's me in action planting beets: