I took advantage of a toasty Spring day to add new soil to the vegetable beds and remove the trellises from the garden sheds and place then on the raise beds.
I am totally suffering from Spring fever!
The Asian Magnolias are very fragrant on warm Spring days!
This graffiti or as I call it “street art” says it all!
Filed under Design, General Gardening, Vegetables
The Three Sisters is a name given to the three basic crops by Native Americans: beans, corn, and squash.
They would plant them together in mounds and each plant would add a positive element to the group. The corn provided a structure for the beans to climb. The beans provide nitrogen to improve the soil. The squash would spread along the ground and prevent weeds, cool the soil, and reduce the need for water. The native Americans of the Northeast would also bury fish or eels in the mounds as fertilizer.
Nutritionally, they complement each other, too. Corn lacks the amino acids lysine and tryptophan which are needed by the human body to make complete proteins and niacin but beans contain both so the beans and corn together make a balanced diet.
Native Americans of the Southwest are known to add a forth sister: Cleome. Cleome or Rocky Mountain Bee Plant, attracts bees to help pollinate the beans and squash (corn is wind pollinated).
The Three Sisters planting method is featured on the reverse of the 2009 US Sacagawea Native American dollar coin.
Pumpkin: a winter squash.
Filed under Plants, Vegetables
Hot and humid days are really helping the garden to produce a lot of tomatoes, bell pepper chilies, and herbs. I haven’t gotten around to building a chicken coop yet but it’s on my to do list! It’s so hot and humid lately! Daytime temperatures have reached as high as 106f a week ago! Luckily we have had enough rain to keep the rain barrels full!
A few of the lilies have bloomed a second time.
Even a few mushrooms are doing their thing!
Filed under Food, Vegetables
Arthur in the Garden! 