[Ag-eq] Spring!

[nfoster at extremezone.com]

Tracy:

Do the peach blossoms have a smell?

Blue berries are my favorite, but they don't make it here.

Your garden sounds beautiful; I'll be interested to hear more about the no mow
grass.  Please let us know how the pond turns out.

Nella


Quoting Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net>:

> Spring is finally coming to New Jersey!  The flowers are starting to do
> their thing, and I'm headed out to the garden as soon as I'm off work.
> The peach tree is blooming.  It's a beautiful little tree.  Right now, it's
> got lots of little pink flowers.  After that, it puts out long, narrow,
> graceful leaves.  Last year, all the fruit dried up and fell off before it
> got ripe.  I'm fertilizing it this year, and hoping for better results.
> The blueberries and raspberries are leafing out, and the blueberries have
> plenty of buds.
> I've put out some cabbage and broccoli seedlings, and I'm going to put out
> lettuce seedlings maybe today, plus plant more lettuce, spinach, carrots and
> radishes. Then I gotta protect the lot from Mr Rabbit.
>
> I made a big mistake last fall.  I was putting in new grass out front, and
> my landscaper said there was extra dirt, so I told her to put it on the
> raised bed.  But the dirt was full of grass seed, which came up.  I left it,
> thinking it would be a good cover crop, but it was hard to turn in this
> spring, and it's not breaking down very well.  So I have extra work to do,
> either burying it more, or removing the big clumps.
>
> I'm making an experiment with no-mow grass this year.  I planted it in areas
> that are hard to drag the mower to, and, if it works well, I'll expand.
> It's a mix of low-growing grasses, clover and flowers.  I'm excited about
> it.  Hope it actually works as advertised.
> I'm also working with my landscaper to put in a small pond.  Neither of us
> has done a pond before, so it's taking a while to figure out.  So, between
> the pond site and the grass-seeding, my yard has a lot of large mud patches
> right now.  But, if these things work, it will be great!
>
> I'm planting fava beans again this year.  I think they're real neat.
> They're as big as a chickpea, and taste like peas, but the bushes are a lot
> sturdier than peas.  They like cool weather, so I hope to get some in this
> week.
> I also bought some heirloom runner beans to try.  One is called Scarlet
> Emperor.  It gets 10 feet tall, and has purple beans and red flowers, if I
> remember right.  I love pole beans.  They're very easy to care for; there's
> no bending to harvest; and they're delicious.  And these new ones sound nice
> enough that I just might put them out front.
> I'm also trying a new potato, German Butterball.  Last year, I tried Russian
> Banana.  It was nice, but the yield wasn't as much as I'd hoped for.
> Anyway, I'm very happy Spring is here, and I'm headed out to dig in the
> dirt!
> Tracy
>
>
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