I got a lot of work done in the orchard over the weekend to get ready for spring (Clothilde helped, of course. She took my hat and gloves when I went to get a drink!). I pulled out all the weeds and blackberries that had grown up around the trees and bushes over last summer. I put down kelp on the blueberries and a mineral clay on the fruit trees before mulching them thickly with old cow hay I pulled off of the pasture. It's so different caring for these long-lived perennial plants than the garden annuals. You don't see results as quickly, but at least it's harder to kill them. I'm glad I am finally finding time to really care for the orchard.
The last few heads of Napa cabbage are massive. We're still working our way through the second to last one. (don't look at the laundry pile on the left, please)
We are starting to build the summer garden, too. We're picking up the old hay from the cows, which also has lots of manure mixed in. I am hoping for these beds to be permanent. I don't want to have to keep putting cardboard down. I'm really piling on the hay in hopes that the weeds will be kept back until the season is over, and I can pile more hay on. Perhaps a late summer cover-crop, too.
I pulled more over-planted radishes off of the carrots. The first planting of carrots look like they will be ready soon. It's too bad the radishes didn't work well with them, because there aren't very many carrots from the first planting. The second planting is germinating well, though.
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