Different, not conflicting

I suppose that working together on any project, especially over years, involves having a certain level of splitsville. Since you are different people, you are bound to have different ideals. Well, that goes, even when you marry your best friend and have the same overarching values in life. The good thing is, the goals don't have to conflict, and can, in the end,  be complimentary.

This year, one of my goals for the garden is to make it more attractive. Right now, since we believe in repurposing and have access to all sorts of useful junk on the property, we haven't really needed to buy many things. We have wood for tripods and fencing to keep critters out, not to mention all the hay and newspaper we can shake a stick at! We are also trying our hand at no-till, which means that (especially in the beds) the weeds can get a little out of control, while we focus our efforts on more useful tasks. These things combined, however, adds up to our garden (especially in a dry April) looking like a big,  fenced-in junk pile! There are piles of 2x4s and tomato cages and weed benches and old scraggly vines hanging out all over the place! It really doesn't look like we put any effort into the thing, when in reality, it's pretty all-consuming these days.

It may be one of those things where I notice it and no one else would. Like when you go over someone's house and they apologize up and down for their mess and the whole time you're thinking that you wish you could keep your house that clean? (or does that just happen to me?)

Here's the thing, though. It doesn't matter if anyone else thinks it's a junk pile. I do. And guess where I don't want to spend my time? That's right, a junk pile. My running theory is that if I make the place more attractive (even just to me), then I will be more willing to spend my time there- and more willing to get some other serious jobs done.

My big first step in this goal was to fix the snakiary (for the snakes), so it looks less like a junky pile of rocks in the corner. There is a Zen-Buddhist quality of arranging rocks. In fact, when I was in Korea, the Buddhist temple I visited had rock sculptures all over the place. It was magical and wonderful while being normal and phallic all in one go.

Well, if anyone can my garden phallic, it's me. Here's to another year with new goals.  

The Crunch

Multiple times every year, and not always at the same time, I feel The Crunch.  It's not a time crunch, but a space crunch.  The last rows are filling up in the garden, and I have to look for the small, overlooked areas where weeds are creeping in, or I forgot it was there so I can make the best use of all my garden area.  Here are my main concerns at the moment:

- I planted too much garlic.  I planted a good amount more this year than last year, and it takes up almost an entire row, with an inefficient space left over on either end of the row.  In another month or so, scapes will be upon us, but we still have maybe 100 heads of garlic in the root cellar. If it's not 100, it sure feels like it!  I should have marked down every head of garlic we used this winter, but didn't think of it until a few weeks ago.  I will do that this coming year.  My baseline for garlic and onions each is to have one bulb for every day of the year.  I figure that this is overestimating how much we need, but it's a safe bet.  I'd rather too many than not enough. 

-I planted too large an area of peas, and I also planted them too late.  The good news here is that I will have time to replant this row with a storage crop (or a few!) in mid summer.  

-Last year, I had moderate success with growing onions from seed germinated in the last week of December.  What didn't grow to efficient eating size was saved and used as sets this year.  There are over 100 of these sets.  That room is taken up now, and can't be used for this year's first-year seedlings.  I need an extra row for this.  Same goes for leeks, but those overwintered on their own (good job guys!).

-I possibly allotted too much space for corn and squash- one row each.  My plan last year of alternating square blocks of each didn't do so hot, so I went back to a row formation.  I can effectively grow enough winter squash in maybe 1/3 of a row, however, I wanted it to run under the corn stalks.  That might be redundant because this year I'm going to sow half-running beans between the corn stalks, once the corn gets established.  Perhaps I can use some of that squash row for other things. 

-I still don't always have realistic expectations for space allotment during the planning/pre-sowing stage of the year.  Some things take up significantly more room that I had planned, which reduces space for other things.  I also didn't account for overwinterers like leeks taking up space in May, which is happening big-time. 


-I need to make sure I think very carefully about my succession plans to maximize space and yield. 
This includes starting first crops early enough so they can finish in time to plant second crops.  I should try to intercrop a little more to squeeze even more into my space. 


This is all I can remember at the moment.