Weekend Work

I can hardly believe it is time for gardening again. While the rest of the United States is seeing a lot of the white fluffy stuff, we are basking in sunlight and 60 degree weather. This time last year, we were putting up fence, digging ground, and planting trees. With all the infrastructure in place, we are fine-tuning the process of gardening after last year's season of information gathering.

One big thing we learned is that the weeds that come up in the late summer and fall are an unyielding lot. The spring weeds grow as tall as my hips, but they pull out easily from the saturated ground. In the summer, after the ground has been baked by the sun, their drought-hearty replacements tenaciously hold their ground and send out reinforcements in all directions to secure their survival for the next year.

To help eliminate this problem, we have covered the ground with black plastic canvas. Currently, all weed seeds are baking under the cover. Soren and Maya helped me pound in the landscaping stakes.
In addition to the rectangle area, I placed the ground cover around the perimeter of the garden space where there is adequate room for large plants like pumpkins and watermelons to spread out and flourish. In the spring, this area can be used for vine plants and cucumbers.

Lastly, I inspected all the fruit trees and found them to be full of promise for a great year. We are hopeful that year two of our garden will be even more successful than year one.