Garden preparations Sunday, 05-Apr-26 21:08:15 CEST

Sunday, 12-Apr-26 20:20:01 CEST

More garden preparations

This week, we continued with the garden preparations.

Monday 6 April

Today we had a compulsory day off. It was lovely weather. The wind had subsided. Yesterday I had a bit of a relaxed day. Today I was on it again. I plan to prepare two other beds in the garden, G2 to G4 and H4. DW moved a couple of stray garlic plants from the place where I was going to prepare the new zucchini bed to this year's onion-and-garlic location, from G3 to C3. These codes are cryptic, but I blogged about them on 28 March.

I moved the soil from the zucchini beds to put manure beneath them.

I had just become a little warm when it was time to go to the train station to pick up DD. After that, we went to a local plants and seeds market and seed swap fair. That was nice, the weather was nice. DW swapped the seeds that she wanted. I heard a lady being enthusiastic about the seeds that DW brought. That was nice.

I bought a strawberry plant. We had tea, soup, and cake at the fair.

Then we went home. I worked on the beds in the garden—especially the beds where I will plant the zucchinis this year. I think I brought in more than 5 wheelbarrows of manure from below the rain roof. Then I put the original soil back.

In this bed, we also have one asparagus plant. It is promising. We decided to keep it in this bed rather than move it to the bed of permanent plants. That is for another time.

I did not run over these beds with the tiller machine, to be gentle to the soil living here. On the other side of the garden, I run over to my heart's content with the tiller machine. Here on this side, we are gentler on the soil. DW does no-dig, and I do less-dig, but I do dig when weeding and putting manure below the soil. We also planned zuccini for H1, but I didn't have the energy for that today.

DW and DD baked cinnamon rolls today. These rolls were much better than mine. They had another recipe and plenty of time for the project. I think this was part of the success. I had inspired DW to bake cinnamon rolls. She tried to convince me that my rolls were really good too, but these rolls were better. That was sure!

We had dinner with all four of us. DS also came to eat together. It was a nice gathering.

Tuesday 7 April

It is Tuesday, and DD came with us in the car to the train station today. DW and DD went by train, and I went to my office. I was sitting there at my desk early in the morning, and it felt strange. That extra compulsory day off made my sense for the week rhythm discombobulated. Not good at all.

Today was a perfect day for biking to work, but with this many people going to town, we took the car.

I worked the whole day on producing one query. It is a large complex query, but it is only one query. I got it working, and I was happy with the result.

It was okay to have a day of rest today. My body cannot work hard all the time. It is good to let the muscles rest and have the brain do the lifting. The last couple of days, I carried sand and manure. I got a stiff neck and sore hands. Although preparing the garden is really hard work, I am enthusiastic about the prospect of a garden season. A productive garden season!

I checked my weight yesterday. I had gained one kilogram, but it was my muscle mass that had grown. One kilogram of more muscles, that is surprisingly much, really.

Wednesday 8 April

This morning, the sunrise was beautiful. It was promising to become a beautiful day. I worked from home while DW was off. She drove to a wool event. I worked a little longer, but when I logged out, DW was already driving onto the driveway.

After lunch, I started working on the raised bed G5 to I5. It had weeds growing, and parsley and celery that had survived the winter. It also had wild strawberries, but we were not very happy with them. I moved the strawberries to the shore of our water pond. The parsley and celery were placed in a temporary bucket of water while I worked on the bed's soil.

First, I had to repair one of the cross beams holding the bed together. I had scrap wood to mount the cross beam. The trickiest part was to remove the half-rotten wood pieces. The wood of the red planks itself is not prone to rot. They are as fresh as when I put them there. If these planks can handle being used in a raised bed, then the planks of the house are indestructible.

Then I removed the soil and put manure at the bottom. Then I put the soil back. There went three wheelbarrows of manure into the bottom of this bed. The manure with compost becomes more compact. I topped the soil a little. That way, it will take a little longer for the soil to reach the edge of the raised bed.

We will see how the parsley and the celery from the winter will survive this treatment.

No seeds have yet sprouted. Perhaps it is a little too chilly in the barn. On the one hand, it would be nice if it went fast, but on the other hand, it is essential that there be no frost at night when we transplant the seedlings.

Now, most of the manure from the platform below the rain roof has been removed. There is still some fluff to clear up. Today, we decided to let the sheep out into the northwest area of the property, inside the dyke. I made a film of this.

Sometimes they are so happy to be let out that they run and stomp with their feet, but no such display this time.

Thursday 9 April

Good morning. Today I’m biking to work, and I'm running a bit late, but I decided not to stress about it. When I got out of the shower this morning, I got pain in my ribs on the right side. I suppose that is something you can get as a gift after moving a couple of wheelbarrows of manure.

DW and I discussed the method of placing manure at the bottom and soil on top. She’s not entirely happy with this method. Well, there is a contradiction in thought schools. I am not happy with the no-dig method either, and how are we supposed to weed without digging? She said that she was not at all adhering to the no-dig principles herself. It was I who said she applied no-dig principles. Okay, that is fine. I understand that disturbing the soil unnecessarily is not a good thing. Let us not do that.

Our sheep are producing between 15 and 20 wheelbarrows of manure in one winter. I’ve been processing this material as quickly as possible. Putting 20 wheelbarrows on a pile and calling it compost won't work. That’s not how composts are made. Compost is built by layers of green and brown stuff. Not one big chunk of manure.

So then we started talking about how I am bringing material to the compost throughout the season, bit by bit, and DW is not. But that was not the question about principles; that is a question of being lazy. Huh? We could put 20 wheelbarrows of manure on a heap, and essentially, it will melt it down terrifically. But it can melt terrifically and be used in the garden this season already. The way I am doing it. That way, the nutrients of the manure will be used right away instead of first leaking away on a useless heap that we call "The compost," but it is not. Here is a video about how to make compost.

There is another challenge here: I want to do crop rotation, and I want to do it by adding the nutrients that potatoes and zucchinis like, the sheep manure. I recall we had a heap of manure one year that we did not know what to do with, and I grew pumpkins on it; it was magnificent. One thing is clear: the plan to put 20 wheelbarrows of manure on the compost pile is not going to work, so I need to talk to DW more about that.

I do hear a ticking sound from the bike, but I’m almost at work. I’m not far from hardware stores; I could get myself a bottle of WD-40 before biking home in the evening.

Indeed, before I headed home, I went to the hardware store and picked up some WD-40 plus a solid wheelbarrow wheel. We have one wheelbarrow that is leaking. I had had enough of it, so now I have bought a new wheel with a solid tire. Since I had the Alan keys with me, I could take off the saddle pin on the bike and spray some WD-40 into the tube. It has not worked just yet.

I’m on my way home. It is surprisingly warm. I’m feeling funny and not in a positive way. The bike is ticking. This is the kind of situation when my blogging voice is silent. Just biking, feeling funny, and disappointed.

Here I stopped and took some photos of yellow flowers in the forest. Beautiful things can cheer you up!

Along the high-farting canal, several professional fishermen were active. They also had a remote-controlled boat. I have not seen that fishing strategy before; that is new to me. This ticking sound is driving me crazy. I start to hate this bike, and it's not the first time.

Tomorrow I have a day off, but I’m not having a free day. DW and I will go to the PILs' old house in the large trailer and bring stuff to the recycling center. The house will be emptied and put up for sale. I can think of funnier things to do on my day off. Let’s make the best of it!

In the evening, after dinner, we picked up the large trailer. It is a trailer we share with other neighbors. With the trailer behind the car, we were ready for tomorrow.

Friday 10 April

We woke up early to ensure that we would not be late for PIL's old house. This worked out well; we arrived on time. The tulip fields were almost ready.

It was not so that we did anything hastily at PIL's house. First, it was coffee and a cookie. The two BIL's were there and SIL too. We brought stuff to the trailer. It was especially a steel bedframe that had to be transported with the trailer. We also loaded a considerable amount of flat glass onto the trailer. I was thinking of reusing some of it, but I refrained. If I need more glass, I will find it elsewhere.

With the trailer loaded, we went to the local recycling center. One of the BILs presented the documentation proving we were locals, and thereby we were let in. With this done, we went back to PIL's old house. I thought we would load another trailer, but that was not the case. I was a little disappointed, but there was no reason to be. It just means the others will do more of the house-cleaning. I will not stop them.

We also brought with us some more things for ourselves: two small tables and a few little things.

On the way home, we listened to the latest Ezra Klein podcast. It talked about many things, but it spoke to me. There is a groundedness in Ezra's commentary that I need right now. This is such a volatile time, and what should one make of it? That is what Ezra offers: ideas for processing what is happening right now.

Saturday 11 April

Hi there. I’m trying to blog without concentrating so much on the screen. This is because I’m going to weed the tomato bed at the same time, while blogging. It’s an old dream I've had for a long time now: to be able to blog without paying so much attention to the screen. One of the most important requirements for doing that is to form complete sentences and say them without any hesitation. And exactly that is my weak point. You have people working and talking at the same time, and I’m not that kind of person. Perhaps I can get this figured out?

You remember that surprise party we went to last Sunday? As it happens, that person is celebrated again. Can you imagine? DW is out all day for a surprise party for a friend, one more time. The first time, it was the friend's husband arranging the party. This time, it is DW and another lady arranging the party, and it is only for the three of them.

I spent the morning replacing a leaking wheel on a wheelbarrow with a solid one. That went well.

It is challenging to unscrew a bolt when it is held in place by another bolt that you also need to unscrew. I could hold the axis with a big pair of pliers. That way it worked.

Now, I’m weeding the tomato bed. It is bed F2 and F3. Here I’m seeing a substantial amount of nettles. So what do I do? I’m sure nettles improve soil quality. The thing is, they’re stinging. So I’m standing here grumbling about not touching the soil too much. But I really don’t want to have nettles in my garden! I also don’t want to be standing here grumbling. Luckily, the roots of nettles are bright yellow! The nettle material was disposed of in the green waste bin. That will be picked up and handled by the municipality. All other things that we like, we compost ourselves.

The compost heap from last year has many worms! It looks like they are having a great time in that compost heap. I moved two wheelbarrows of compost to the tomato bed.

The compost is still rough in consistency, but it can be used perfectly well for planting tomatoes.

After I finished mulching the tomato bed, I had lunch. DS.Came asking if we had friends visiting. I explained to him that it was one of DW's friends and that she was away all day. DS and I agreed to go to a restaurant for dinner this evening.

I also went to the garden shop and bought more soil for seedlings. This was for us to prepare more pots for this garden season. It was also soil for a DS project. He received oat seeds, giving blue oats. Interesting!

Neighbors came back from a walk while DS and I were busy planting the oat seeds. I invited them into the barn. I played a song for them on the violin. They liked the short concert! They were also interested in blue oat plants.

Then it was time to eat. We went to a local snack bar. We had a nice meal, talking about security certificates and programming languages. So father, so son.

Sunday 12 April

DW's festivities yesterday were grand, so DW was a bit tired today. I was poised to continue working on the garden. I moved two wheelbarrows of compost to the F4 Mangold bed.

I sowed parsley seeds in the raised bed G5 and onwards.

In the barn, I sowed chili pepper seeds. DW did not want so many chili plants. On this, I answered that it was better to sow ten seeds; you never know how many will survive. Here came the idea of making a poem of the ten chili pepper seeds.

Ten Chili Pepper Seeds Ten chili pepper seeds in little pots aligned, one slipped beside the rim of the pot, then there were only nine. Nine tiny shoots reached up, so hopeful, green and straight, one drooped in the shade, then there were eight. Eight leaves were dancing softly in a breeze from heaven, one snapped in the wind, then there were seven. Seven stems grew sturdy, reaching sticks and bricks, one bent too far and couldn’t rise, then there were six. Six fiery dreamers soaking up the sun alive, one dried up in the soil, then there were five. Five held their blossoms bright, a vivid, fragile core, one lost its petals too early, then there were four. Four little peppers forming quietly, you see, one fell on the ground, then there were three. Three turned to red and gold beneath a sky so blue, one split before its time, then there were two. Two final plants stood proud in summer’s run, one tried too hard to ripen, then there was one. One chili pepper glowing in the setting sun, the gardener picked it and was so happy he could harvest one.

We bought more sweet corn seeds today and chalk for our sheep lawns.

Today, we also harvested our asparagus for the first time! We had asparagus growing last year, but we never harvested any. In the photo, you can see the asparagus on a bit of bread with mayonnaise and sliced chives. It was delicious, but perhaps our asparagus plant needs to produce more before it is of dinner value.

I started the tedious work of installing the watering pipes for the beds. That work was not finished.

Here ends this week's blog, a week full of intense garden preparations. We are still ahead of the planning, so that looks good. I wrote 2988 words, which is good enough. Welcome back next week!