In The Garden...

Sunshine and weeding were on the agenda for this week's Hump Day. Handsome helped me dig weeds out of my raised beds, and we added ash from our burn barrel to each one. I'm also going to get some sand, mushroom fertilizer from the local mushroom farm, and a little more soil to add to each bed. 

For now, though, we raked in the ash and I covered the beds with cardboard (to try) to keep the dandelions that are going to seed from settling in the newly-tilled soil. 

This lilac bush has grown quite a bit since we purchased our farmhouse, and it's close to where we worked, so the sweet fragrance from these blooms filled the air. We actually have lilacs all the way around the farmhouse, some likely established when the house was built. Those are now beautiful sentries stationed right at the edge of our hedgerow leading to The Habitat where I first fed the opossums, raccoons and the feral cats. 

This spring, I took all the pineapple scraps from my canning day down to The Habitat, and was pleasantly surprised to watch four deer move across the field right into the spot where I'd left everything. When I checked the next day, everything was gone. I'm sure they figured they'd located the Mother Lode of sweet treats that afternoon!

Anyway, exercising an abundance of caution (I didn't want a sore back to end the day), we managed to clean out three of the four raised beds, leaving one to go. I'm going to clear that one today. I'll also bring out my planting bags, garden tubs and other accessories. Then, I can decide how I want to plant everything this year, and it will be set up to go. 

Right now, I'm trying to decide if I want to add a few rows of straw bales to try straw bale gardening this year. If I do, our neighbor will have some for me. I just need to ask. I think I'd use them for tomatoes, beans, or squash, but I can't make up my mind. I'm torn, because truthfully, the garden beds yielded quite a bit last year without them. Then there's the maintenance part. Do I want to increase my work load? Decisions. Decisions.

No. I'm not one of those people who pore over gardening books and planting diagrams all winter. I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda girl. I suppose it could get me in trouble one of these years, but so far it's working, so I'm not going to "fix" it.

I'm also going to have to spend some serious time in the kitchen garden. Those glorious, persistent hollyhocks are already knee-high and trying to take over the entire area. If I want to see any light whatsoever from our walkway fixtures, I'm going to have to thin them out...soon. Otherwise, they'll be even more ensconced and nearly impossible to remove. I thought I had them under control last fall, but I was obviously woefully mistaken. I'll take before and after photos to show you what I mean.

So, I'll be back outside again this morning and work until it gets too hot...unless it decides to rain...at which point, I'll be back at my needlework, joyfully working on frogs. If the weather holds, I'll stay in the gardens until noon. Then, I'll come in, shower, and stitch away the rest of the day.

Handsome is going to the funeral of a good friend and former associate of ours. Bob Fehring passed away late last week. He worked on photo missions with Handsome when they both worked for Mercury Marine, and he had his own advertising agency. 

He's the artist who created my original Brynwood logo which was used in all my advertising and on my needlework charts from the very beginning of Brynwood Needleworks in 1989. While I've slightly changed colors over the years, the design has remained the same.

We remember afternoon-into-evening photo shoots with Handsome, Bob and me, as we set up the cover designs featuring my samplers. He was such an easy man to work with. We were nearly always on the same page, and only a few times did we need to tweak from my vision to his execution. 

Although we haven't seen him in years, he's come to mind frequently because I work with his art regularly. We're both saddened by his passing, so Handsome will represent us at his celebration of life. There will be other folks in attendance he had in common with Handsome, so I'm sure there will be a nice reunion in his honor. He was a great guy and will be missed. The world was a better place with him in it. RIP, old friend.