wet

Took advantage of this morning's respite from rain (it poured again this afternoon) to work in garden, even though soil muddy. The book I read that said sprout Sunflower seeds between damp towels recommended that because said they won't all grow. I thought that meant at least forty percent wouldn't sprout. But almost all of mine did- only three seeds didn't. Planted them all today- filled in the gaps on fence, and three in the back plot w/stone wall (all weeds last year). I pushed a little hole in the dirt w/stick, placed each seed in w/its sprout up, sprinkled potting soil lightly over it, then a little bit of grass clippings, then covered with a plastic cloche and piled more grass clippings around. The grass is more to distract pill bugs and keep dirt from splashing up on the sides- I like to be able to see the little seedlings in their plastic houses thru the sides. Hopefully keeping them covered from the very beginning will let them grow a lot stronger, protected from the bugs.

In the bare rock-wall plot I pulled weeds- easy to do since it was still covered w/last year's leaf mulch- not very many and loosely rooted- then raked the leaves off, yanked out the tree seedlings, trimmed back branches from the trees that have grown up against the fence (not sure what to do with them still- they offer a screen from the neighbors but are growing so close to fence get trunks and branches squeezed into the wire) to let in some light, and turned the soil over. The acrid smell of the heavy clay reminded me of when I first turned over the walled plot when we'd just moved in. I've top mulched mostly since then, so this was the first big digging job of the year. Then I raked the dirt smooth and made three heaps of compost. Left it for today- the birds and squirrels will pick through the piles I made (already I saw them at it) looking for what I've left there, and finding nothing today hopefully leave it alone when I put the seeds in, tomorrow or the next day (that's what I did last year w/the zucchini seeds, and it fooled them). Going to put corn and watermelons in there. Not sure if the melon is as compatible w/corn as squash, but going to try.

Last thing I did before it rained on us was pull weeds along the space under living room widow, against the house and side of driveway. No purslane came up this year- I wonder why. Layered it w/newspapers and compost. Used up all the bottom of the pile- already full of new materials- so I couldn't do the whole plot that way. The second half of it just turned the dirt over and chopped out the weed roots. Then we sprinkled it with Marigolds- most of them seeds last year's plants made, some the ends of packets. I still have one packet to plant in gaps in the garden.

This method of newspaper/mulch layering worked well under the kitchen window- last year that was always full of weeds, no matter how much I pulled them up. Now only a few grow here and there, mostly on the edges, and easy to pull. It appears to be true what I read of garlic's protective properties- one half of that plot is garlics w/lettuce planted among them, the other side is just lettuce by itself. The lettuce alone has leaves of holes- and the S Lettuce chewed on most of all. The side full of garlic, all the R Lettuce is nice and healthy, untouched. Next year I'm planning to make a whole wall of garlic along back side of the garden plot, instead of a square patch on one end.