First Workday of the Year at PAR Davies

Hi Everyone,

What a nice warm day to finally get together at the garden. Gardeners present today were Susan, Dorothy, Janet, Mary Elizabeth, Jamie, G.A., Bob Hathaway and me. When I arrived this morning Jamie and G.A. were already hauling blocks and lining them up for the beds. They are well over half done now, and it is looking really nice. Bob had the in-ground beds tilled up and then did the area along the fence where we are going to plant the blueberries and raspberries. What a surprise!

Susan, Mary Elizabeth, Janet, Dorothy and I started cleaning up a much neglected garden. Things had blown about and frozen cabbages needed to be pulled out, etc. There is still more to be done, but already looks 100% better. 

Dorothy and Susan folding up plastic sheets.

We were able to plot out where the blueberries will be planted and worked in aluminum sulfate to each site. We will have to bring the pH down to at least 5 from 6.8. Before planting, we will recheck the pH to see if we need to add more aluminum sulfate. Rain is predicted, so it will be good to get that all watered in.

Blueberry bush sites.

We were able to take a break from the garden to organize our shelves in the barn. We got rid of a lot of 'junk' and cleaned up mouse droppings and all kinds of trash. What a difference. Suzanne got us all organized last spring with labels, etc., and things got scattered in this rush this summer.

The beautiful soil that Bob tilled for us. What a blessing to have this done.

The things that survived the freeze thus far are the garlic, cilantro, chives, carrots, brussels sprouts, walking onions in the uncovered beds, and the carrots, endive and some of the lettuce in the covered bed. We should be getting our onion sets within the next two weeks, so they will need to be planted on the first nice day. After that, the next things to be planted will be the peas, but we will have to wait and see how the weather looks as to whether it will be the last part of February or the first part of March.

The Lollo Rossa lettuce seemed to be the most cold hardy. 

A large carrot (top center) in covered bed.

Thanks to all the gardeners today. Much was accomplished, and the garden is starting to look like something we can be proud of. We have lots of plans for this coming year. I thank God for the abundant harvests last year, and ask His continued blessings in 2014.

'Til later,

Dianne