Our Kind of Fun

Usually we make sure we have quiet, restful Saturdays, but this Saturday became busier than we had planned. We were going to make a quick trip to our favorite nursery to buy Strawberries, Peppermint, Spearmint, Chocolate Mint, Chamomile, and Borage plants. I had seen all of these plants at the nursery when we there last weekend, but the Memorial Day rush depleted a lot of their stock. I found (and bought) Peppermint and Orange Mint plants, but no Chocolate Mint or Spearmint. I bought two flats of Strawberries, but they were ones that ripened in June and not all summer like we wanted. They no longer had any Spearmint, Chamomile, or Borage. I think EJ bought some seed potatoes and maybe one or two other items.

So we decided to drive on to Lowes. We found a couple of plants there, including a twisted apple tree–two varieties that are twisted together. We got a Braeburn twisted together with a Gala apple tree. We didn’t find Spearmint or Borage or Spearmint, so we decided to go on to Home Depot. At Home Depot we found small planters filled with Strawberry plants that ripen all summer. They were fewer than a flat and more expensive, but we bought four planters full because we want strawberries all summer.  For the most part, I can’t really remember what plants we bought where, but I tried to list the plants we ended up getting:

Sweet mint
Orange mint
Chocolate Mint
Peppermint
Chamomile seeds
Aloe
Pepper plants (more of them)
Strawberries (2 varieties)
Seed Potatoes
Cantaloupe
Sunflower Seeds
Lettuce Seeds (because the other ones were in my jeans pocket and got washed)
Bok Choi (2 different kinds)
Radish seeds
Beet seeds
Braeburn/Gala Apple Tree

As you can see, a few plants we didn’t intend to buy found its way in our cart. I think going to nurseries/garden centers is a bit like going to a book store–very addicting. Those plants were added to the ones we bought last weekend:

Tomatoes
Bell and hot peppers
Watermelon
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Squash
Thyme
Basil
Oregano
Parsley
Cabbage plants

I already owned Rosemary, Bay, Sage, and Chives.

We brought our new plants home and worked together to plant them. Since we had bought more plants/seeds than planned, I was concerned that we wouldn’t have enough boxes/pots to put them in. However, we had enough–with three small pots left over. I dug up a clump of chives from the front flower garden and put it in a pot and EJ planted his new apple tree with the one he bought last weekend and the three he bought last year. We now have two twisted Braeburn/Gala trees, one twisted Honeycrisp/Honey Gold, one twisted CandyCrisp/Haralson, and an Empire. We now feel we have enough apple trees to provide us with a good supply. Now we will concentrate on cherry trees.

While we were planting, EJ noticed the ducks nibbling at the all-summer strawberry plants and they were also nibbling my chives! Not good! We aren’t planting a garden as a smorgasbord for the ducks! So we stopped our work, EJ shut the ducks into their smaller pen away from the garden, and we drove to TSC to buy two 150 foot rolls of 24-inch chicken wire fencing. Chicken wire has small holes that duck bills can’t get through. Then we came home and fenced in the strawberries.

By this time it was beginning to rain and we were really tired, so we quit for the day. A big thunderstorm rolled into the area at about 11 p.m. One clap of thunder shook our house! The storms were still going on when we went to bed but we didn’t hear them. We obviously got a ton of rain: In the morning, a kitty litter bucket (we use them for everything!) was filled to the top with rain water.

I planted the two flats of June-bearing strawberry plants this morning. I didn’t plant them yesterday because we didn’t have the fence up yet to protect them. EJ and I spent all day today fencing in all the raised garden beds. We used some of the smaller t-posts until we ran out and then EJ made posts out of wood. He put in the wooden posts while I pounded in the t-posts. I sucked at nailing the chicken wire to the wooden posts so EJ fastened the wire to them while I fastened the wire to the t-posts.

It was really hot today–about 80 degrees and humid. Ugh. Not particularly pleasant for working. Sometimes we overheated and had to take breaks. However, we worked until we got all the raised garden beds protected–about 6 p.m. or so. Even though it was hot and tiring, we both agreed that we had tons of fun. We would rather do this than almost anything.

Oh, and EJ found the time to hang up the xylophone in the coop for the chickens.

Here are some photos of our garden. You can click on them to make them bigger.

Our little apple orchard

Braeburn and Gala Apple Trees twisted together into one.

The chickens’ xylophone