A Morel to the Story

People go crazy over morel mushrooms.  They can sell for $40 a pound.  I found a few yesterday in the woods, but over the years I’ve never had a major haul.  I didn’t even realize they appeared on the property until about six years ago.  One year I found about 25, but I was a couple days late and they were well past their prime and inedible. Judy sautéed up the four I found and we had them with dinner.  Morels have an interesting chewy texture, almost...

Banking on Berries

The 200 plus strawberry plants in the foreground are in a very temporary home.  They are  banked, trenched, or heeled in; a process of laying plants in a trench and covering the roots with soil.  Here they can reside until they can be relocated.  A few of these transplants were retrieved from a four old bed that I dug out last week, but most were dug out from runners in the paths on either side of the center bed in the background. 100 of these plants have already...

Another Battle in the Everlasting War on Weeds

My garden is an experiment to prove to myself that it’s possible to maintain a large organic vegetable growing area using all hand labor and with a minimum of outside inputs.  Weed control is the toughest part, and not having or taking enough time to do a good job of preventative weeding often leaves me with some labor intensive weeding chores. This partly weeded bed was planted with strawberries in 2007.  I normally clean out the berry beds and move any...

Planting Boards for Raised Beds

I planted a bed of potatoes Sunday, using two new planting boards that I made from a 4′ x 4′ sheet of 1/2″ plywood.  I had been using some old scrap plywood for planting boards, but I decided I would be happier and more efficient with two boards exactly the size I wanted. I cut a 12″ strip off the 4′ x 4′ sheet so I have a 3′ x 4′ board for using when I’m on top of a bed and I have a 1′ x 4′ sheet...

494 Peas – More or Less

Here’s me, yesterday, atop a bed, planting peas.  We had a nice little break in the rainy weather, so I took the opportunity to get my peas seeded.  I’m using a large piece of plywood to kneel on.  The plywood disperses my weight and allows me to get right on top of the bed.  It makes the work much easier that trying to reach in from the sides to set the peas in place. The bed has just over 36″ of flat planting width across the top.  I’m...

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