Note to self: alfalfa, mustard, buckwheat, red night kidney, adzuki, soy, soy, soy
March 2, 2006
This is the planting order when facing the lower allotment. The acronym is AMBRASSS, which could stand for the the English embarass, if the cover crops once again fail to thrive. If the cover crops survive my handling and the weather, I can pronounce the acronym in French as in je t’embrace, which translates into a summer garden cocktail party with homegrown edamame as the cameo snack.
Note to self: I Innoculated the mustard seeds with dirt to form broadcastable seed pills. Narrowcasting is a more accurate description of what actually took place. Hopefully the mixing action didn’t disturb the sprouted seed too much.
First irrigation run goes awry. Lowered irrigation pipe, made a huge mess of the footpath.
Digital photo of author drinking soup in KvR’s new shed
It appears that I’m the first guest in Ktje’s new cabane. JT remarked that we’ve started to dress like the ‘Turnip Ladies’ in a fairy tale and excepting the fact that neither one of us has actually grown a turnip, it’s hard to disagree. For fun, we’re going to wash and wear urban clothing for dinner from now on. Starting tomorrow.
Each day the gents come to marvel at what seems to them to be a unique form of gardening. Today’s crowd got a buckwheat sowing performance and a taste of buckwheat sprouts. I tried explaining that I was growing buckwheat (and alfalfa, mustard…) to improve soil condition by fixing nitrates and increasing the organic matter in my soil, but this didn’t translate very well. In fact it didn’t translate at all. Trick is to leave the explaining to Sidi AlGouche, the allotment’s alpha male.
technorati tags: allotment, kitchen garden, irrigation
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Irrigate, ice skate
February 28, 2006
Took the new irrigation system out for a spin and it looks like I have a hunquering for the Netherlands. The idea is that all manner of plant life will grow along the borders, if it would just stop freezing for one day.
Vernacular architecture. Surely I have the ugliest shed in the gardens and hope that a good flood will wash it away.
My sweet neighbour Sidi AlGouche, who saw me pissing about with the main canal structure, took the hoe from my hands, (Gimme that hoe, Ho!) and laid out the canal perimeter. He’s so bored right now that he’s raking his lands for the fourth time. Note, the blue pills that he gives his garden.
Irrigorgeous!
technorati tags: allotment, kitchen garden, irrigation
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Spring is a time of rebirth
February 26, 2006
But not for everyone. Upon inspection of my lands I discovered a dead mouse. And then another, and another. In total, there were six dead mice on my new plot!
Looks like someone is a picky eater. Actually, its not spring here, its still freezing five degrees in the night. I returned to my Occitanian kitchen garden Sunday to discover that not one of my cover crops had sprouted let alone burgeoned in the sub-zero weather. Imagine that, seeds not sprouting when its -5!
In the mean time I got to try out the motoculteur, which we have nicknamed the motivateur for obvious reasons. It took me thirty minutes to turn my gardens, fifteen of which were spent getting the motor to start.
technorati tags: allotment, kitchen garden
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