Good things are happening on the homestead as we start our spring garden. I am so happy that my husband has recovered from his broken knee and that he is able to get out in the garden and make things happen. He is the one with the green thumb.
We had already started peppers and tomatoes indoors and our perennials are starting to bloom. The last couple of weeks we planted our herb garden. One thing we try to do is plant things that will deter mosquitoes. I am an absolute magnet for them. They actually stalk me. We are growing things like catnip, basil and peppermint. We also have garlic and we plan to plant marigolds.
This week we got a start with getting all our other seeds planted. So far, we have planted buckwheat, mammoth sunflowers, pima beans, cotton and green beans. I absolutely adore the sunflowers so I am sure looking forward to seeing them in the garden. Our chickens are fans of the buckwheat. We don’t mind sharing the garden with the girls, but some things we have to block off from them.
My husband likes to try out different techniques from year to year. This season he is working with landscaping cloth for the first time. It is supposed to help keep weeds from growing up with the crops. He has started laying down some of the cloth and he will cut holes to plant the crops. He is also growing some crops in between the rows where he has laid the cloth.
We still have a lot more to plant, but we will get there. I am looking forward to an abundance of corn and tomatoes. We have hopes for a good garden this year to make up for a bust of a season last year. I always look forward to attracting colorful birds and butterflies.
