As luck would have it, the day I chose to start also was a rainy one.
I decided to use my 20 minutes walking to the store and buying a few items. Most importantly I needed some kind of ground cover to minimize erosion around the new construction. While building the foundation of the new barn, much of our topsoil had been scraped away and apparently replaced with sand. The typical soil in this area is a blue-grey clay soil about which I’ll have LOTS to say later. Sand behaves MUCH differently than the soil I am used to. I put down a thick layer of straw during the winter to minimize erosion but soon something more durable would have to be in place.
So I bought seed, 3 pounds of knockdown rye @ 50 cents a pound. Grass seed, even the cheapest, was much more expensive. I figured that in most areas I’d be plowing the rye under so it didn’t make sense to spend very much on it. I also bougtht 3 fertilizer spikes (@ 50 cents each) for our apple tree and a clump of 10 asparagus crowns for $5.00. You’ve just got to LOVE a garden store that sells in bulk.
I still had enough time left to hand sow the rye seed. I also snapped a few shots to document what DID survive.
A little halo of mint, contained inside a plastic pot sunk in the garden. Mint is pernicious, which means that unless you reign it in, it will take over.
Another little halo of mint.
Some happy sprigs of Cascade hops, for tea and beer.
Another old-dependable: rhubarb
And horseradish, the first early shoots.
All in all, not a bad start.
