BETWEEN- fragments on perennial interims...

were brought to the new garden today;

last week I got sheep manure and topsoil, altogether fifty-four bags...

not much snow out here,
two rabbits, one white, one brown

cold at the beginning of the week, minus forty Celsius and colder,
but when the sun shines as if spring is already on its way...

between end of October and the middle of February
daily daylight is under ten hours

so in February again with more sunlight
vigorous plant growth goes over ten hours into spring and summer...

nice sunshine from the south, then from the west in the sun room
and more and daily more
starting with December 21st

Posted by Andreas at 06:35 PM | Permalink

nice green apple tree leaves
with a snow layer...

snow on the ground
another nine/ten months of winter ahead...

little sunshine, too little, much too little

longterm hibernation

Posted by Andreas at 03:58 PM | Permalink

in the garden this year
got cut shorter today;

then I broadcasted a wild mixture of clovers
and perennial wild flower seeds
into this mess...

then I spread out over this
more straw, not much, from last year's bales

leaves are already coming down,
so I started raking up leaves
and those too
were mixed into and covered by straw

AAAh..the aroma coming from the humus...
soil is developing...

and yes, we had some rain overnight...
lots of rainworms !

all this tells me
next year will see some fine vegetable growing...

from some corner in the garden
I heard the frog!

all this is, will be, no-till forever...

every day, I'll rake up falling leaves
and mix them into the rotten straw...

I mixed in above seed mixture
some corn salad seeds...

Posted by Andreas at 12:06 AM | Permalink

my "wild" garden entirely overseeded with last year's seeds
and clovers is home to a frog,
NORTHERN LEOPARD FROG,

looks like this:

SOURCE:
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/frogwatch/whoswho/factshts/northlep.htm

also from Saskatchewan
http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/animals/frogs_sk.html

Posted by Andreas at 01:55 PM | Permalink

many clovers blossom

five or six bees cavort here and there

one butterfly the other day
named him sunshine boy

followed by rain all summer
more rain

tonight cold
down to five degrees C
five degrees above freezing

the heat is on
all summer

my online heating bill
my warmth my joy

Posted by Andreas at 06:17 PM | Permalink

we had still minus 35C
with the wind warning advertised
it went down to minus 45C

even so I sit outside under a nice warm March sun
from around noon until I feel nature's juices percolating

the snow is melting and wiggles its way deeper into the ground

the birds wait at feeding time
-I hate to advertise a human as a regular-
am I the bird do they imitate humans?

I've reduced the amounts of each
and several feedings throughout the day
so to get them off of this human habit

and fewer birds are indeed sitting in the apple trees

that was the idea especially once I rake up all leaves
and feed the birds on the ground so they all
go after crawling meat

once spring is here and snow gone home
I again look forward to dandelion's salad bar
any unforeseen snow

while a bit after that the sun gets so hot
from under this blue sky
so that only rural fantasy
can keep me going and going...

all the clover will come to live
like grass it will cover the ground
once they're in bloom
I hope there's more than one bee in these
surroundings, more than one from last year

someone told me last year
farmers like their poisons and chemicals
so if a guy like me likes bees
he should go elsewhere

yes rural living has its own gods
but then it says:

"There is probably no God.
So, stop worrying and enjoy your life".

yes, and last year's butterflies

especially now
since most of nature's life
lived in the past

Posted by Andreas at 12:44 PM | Permalink

is always already enough:

four years Europe,
four years New Brunswick,
four years Saskatchewan already coming up this September

it seems I'm always moving in September
as if I'm still a semester's creature

without birthday in-between my birthdays
I learned early to celebrate
when I wanted what to celebrate
whatever I wanted
and
nothing to re-inforce authorities
providers of double-headed 'festivities'

so, another garden-house
but with a much bigger garden
anywhere where there may be such...
where no hammer no shots shut up the birds
where no whispers shut down the village

But with sunshine to sit under
with nights warm enough to grow cucumbers
and germinate beans and their flowers turning into fruit

and always on a bus line so to be close enough to an airport
that can carry me towards some sort of liberation

hope ! like a win in a word puzzle a grim grin
a fool's sense a one-way choice

no radio, no tv, no car, no humans
all masks must cease
am not looking for something other than what it is

Posted by Andreas at 02:44 PM | Permalink

was for two hours under the sun
sitting on my garden bench

minus 25C

but with the reliable
sunshine
I'm always the boy I used to be
going skating sitting outside
the waiter serving warm drinks
boys showing off their pullover
their skills on ice

their laughter and love

this week I will start a few geranium seeds,
the sun is rising again,
days are getting longer-
reliable change

Posted by Andreas at 02:54 PM | Permalink

I'm probably ten years with this homepage-and internet-mail provider,
but today everything
was shut down, even their homepage, my domain,
mail-server, homepage, blog, the works.

But now everything is working OK.
Thanks!

Also, today,
my other internet provider is down,
because of the 95 year hotel burning down last night,
so their recording said...

Yesterday I got more bird food delivered;
today I have well over a hundred sparrows
in the garden;

but it's sunny,
the birds move between feeding on the ground
and back to resting in the trees.

One deer was here,
but left again when I went outside:
humanity already trained them
to be afraid, very afraid
of humanity...

Human Language IS
the mother of all violence,

so kindness remains speechless,
rarely practiced,
yet accused of
a sort of queer poetry in motion,
especially in these parts

Posted by Andreas at 02:32 PM | Permalink

while
I removed some snow on the southside
where I can sit in the sun at any temperature
if and when the sky is blue

one sparrow - sweet
sparrow talk, a few sweet sparrow notes

I understood

and as soon as I had cleared the snow
off some ground

I put out some wild bird feed...

and soon after
in full sunshine

there where a hundred sparrows,
I counted to fifty and then another another
another

and more and more hungry sparrows
in minus 45 C weather

now here in this area we got the most sunshine in the country

and while I sit under the sun
around noon or so

under the sun
all these sparrows
sit up there in the trees

have a community sing-in

non-eroticized, apolitical
propaganda free

money free entertainment

under free sunshine

extremely peaceful
bird twitter
about this and that

Posted by Andreas at 03:40 AM | Permalink

# Sunrise: 8:56
# Sunset: 16:59

WIND CHILL WARNING:
EXTREME WIND CHILLS TONIGHT AND MONDAY.
THIS IS A WARNING THAT EXTREME WIND CHILL CONDITIONS
ARE IMMINENT OR OCCURRING IN THESE REGIONS.

A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE ACROSS THE PRAIRIES
HAS BROUGHT BITTERLY COLD ARCTIC AIR TO SOUTHERN SASKATCHEWAN.

NORTHWEST WINDS OF 15 TO 20 KM/H
COMBINED WITH TEMPERATURES AROUND MINUS 30
ARE PRODUCING EXTREME WIND CHILLS IN THE MID MINUS FORTIES.

CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO PERSIST THROUGH MONDAY
WITH WIND CHILL VALUES RANGING FROM MINUS 42 TO MINUS 45 C.
.

Posted by Andreas at 03:34 AM | Permalink

I still picked a dozen plus
fresh spinach leaves from the garden

the spinach that I seeded very early in spring
I let flower, then saw it go to seed,
same with the corn salad

next I took a bag sheep manure, covered the works
and over seeded with red clover
and a border with tall growing sweet clover
to block off the bed from wind

so the new fresh spinach came up from below the new green clover

in other words, I did not disturb the soil one bit,
the new clover is doing fine, comes back to life during the sunshine
and until last week I promised to water it with warm water once a week:
as long as the ground is NOT frozen, the roots keep on growing
and there is no snow cover yet

this way, I hope, the undisturbed soil
with this year's roots in it
warms up earlier in spring,

the green clover collects the sunshine
and my nearly sweet spinach is in good company

Posted by Andreas at 09:19 PM | Permalink

and spring is here

still got my clover under row cover:
the other day I watered it with warm water

sunshine here, the most sunniest part of the country
but night-time freezing temperatures

yet I sit out in the sun everyday
have my lunch under blue sky

Posted by Andreas at 10:48 AM | Permalink

I used everything to overseed the 'grass sod' to produce roots:
broad beans and clover for free natural nitrogen,
but the rest came mostly from flax seeds and birdseeds.

Now the birdseeds included lots of sunflower seeds
and over the months they kept on growing taller, bigger, stronger
with nice yellow flowers to look at

and two three yellow birds -American Goldfinches
and an olivegreen bird, acrobatic, upside-down bird
I can't decipher from the books
are the beneficiaries of the sunflower seeds
until the birds move away from the approaching fall, winter

the few birds are still here and whenever I go outside they "speak"
but soon they will be gone, rain coming today...
but nothing cama

first frost last year was middle of September
freezing all tomatoes, but this year I have only a few,
ate one tomato already, but barely more to come

in several spots the buckwheat grew taller than me
and up the trellis with some tomatoes and some scarlet runner beans,
but no fruit

once the birds are gone I will 'work' the surface some
not to disturb the root zone, put up some more straw
and with sheep manure on top
and over seed the works with more clover

I started near the kitchen already
after the peas were gone
I overseeded with red clover
and with sweet clover to open up the ground
deep into the innards of the earth

but the clovers grow as slowly as when early in the year
I still covered them up with plastic to 'push' nature..

after the first frost there's more 'heat' and summer to come yet
right into the snow
so clovers grow lustily

among the birdseed were also barley
and sorghum which still stands tall
over 6"

the barley did good and when I cut it
the seed went into the ground
over which I then spread some fine potting soil
over which I broadcasted the clover

Posted by Andreas at 11:33 AM | Permalink

for my coffee to uplift its taste

but the next day the cream got thick
and I rescued it by 'pouring' it over left over oats
I had left in a plastic container
left from a big bag that I fed to the birds
who would not eat them and deer probably ate them

My fridgeless life
turns all eating rituals
towards the garden of some fresh vegetables
and fruit juices

yes I bought a strawberry cake from a chemistry factory
a sort of companion to the whipping cream's
chemical stabilizers

thought that when I was in Europe...
I ate strawberry cake fresh in the cafe or from the bakery
every day for lunch,
a cake lunch with 'real' whipping cream

knowing full well that other countries
know nothing of my desires, appetites
loves and likes

so people here buy, eat, digest the same stuff
I've seen in the stores last century before free trade

just like when I moved from country to country
from province to province
people talk the same

the same meanings that force themselves upon them
and any new interpretation of meaning
would only subvert their freely chosen subjugation
to their home-made fantasies

and their defense of beloved domination by authorities
they would not know their name of

and then, without TV
I no longer notice scripted people
suffering from under some tyranny of concepts
or any difference between the size of their medicine chest
or the contents of their library

since they all have short hair
short as their lawn's grass
I opine their diet is just as conform
as their opinions dreams
that give them succor and sustenance

Posted by Andreas at 05:44 PM | Permalink

I got to eat the garden, the cabbages and I made already one apple pie
with apples fresh from the tree

also 'reduced' the internet
for less money less surfing
less wattage consumed from this machine

nothing saved, absolute nothing,
because heating is going up by 40%
starting October a cold winter eats money
for heat, say $100 goes to $140
if it's $200 it goes to $280
more than I can eat

food is way up in price, vegetables, bread, milk
so I will eat some fresh potatoes from the garden this week...

one can no longer 'save'
not when things go up by dollars not cents

living 'like a student' is no longer possible

I wait for winter so I can sit under the warm sun,
fantasize what to grow in the garden come spring
but then, like this summer, with night temperatures most often below
ten C, sometimes below 14C...

got flowers on the tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchinis, peppers,
the beans finally started growing, but nowhere any fruits

lots of apples for pies and fresh juices...

so I got no car and no car troubles,
no tv to watch commercials with
so I buy nothing that has not passed the need test

people are boring here,
friendly like hell, hysterics,
propagators of innuendos
and actors acting on their fantasies,
nothing real here, except more false words
useless words

another century of language waste,
nothing but a "Never Again" Museum

Posted by Andreas at 11:36 AM | Permalink

went finally into the ground, yesterday July 2nd;
this trellis is 15feet, so if the beans make it out of the ground
thje other trellis will be planted with the same beans;
night temperatures are still below 15C/below 60F;
days are warm up into the twenties

tomatillo plants are spread out all over near the other tomatoes
and cucumbers and melons

blue flax is in bloom

I saw one bee on the yellow flowering cabbage
then flew on to the broad bean flowers

Posted by Andreas at 12:06 PM | Permalink

for July, August, September and on...
I will have to eat directly from the garden,
cabbages, broccoli, zucchini
no milk, nothing that sits in the fridge,

the apples are doing fine- fresh apple juice is coming...

at $5.39 for 4 liter x2 x4= $43.20
plus it will knock off another $25. - and more per month
from the electricity bill

Posted by Andreas at 12:06 PM | Permalink

on Thursday, the 12th

sat there in the straw that I spread out above the garden beds...
I went outside and it moved out towards the street -
as if gone from the garden...

it was back a few hours later:
again I went outside, it jumped up and positioned itself
staring at me

just like the people here:
position themselves and stare at you
always bereft of an audible language
and if they're are surrounded by their attuned bodies
prodding them into whisper and hysteria
thus each other reinforcing the group's self-righteousness
that in turn intensifies their staring
followed by preening,
then hysterical body contortions

all that stops already properly sexed females
in their tracks at work-'on the job'
and just like the deer suddenly turned around and jumped over the fence
'female employees' move closer together
with each other drowning in their whispers
while their faces enact the pantomime of disgust
-an acculturated faceless ritual
male and female samefaced, uniface contortion

here, 'real' language is nowhere to be found in 'reality':
semic content is not in words
but lives visibly in their behavior

and if,
content in sentences coming forward
are 'love 'of aggressive animosity

a commanding “How are YOU!”
followed yet another prodding more insisting
interrogative”How are YOU!”

followed by their eyes searching each other out
from a distance, faces get tuned
becoming faceless

surrounded by hallucinated
inculcated
whisper-attuned
repetitive idioms

and what sounds as if “real”
are nothing but fantasized 'assertions'

negative assertions
hallucinated accusations
that reinforce conforming gender-same hysteria

nothing but 'local attitudes, local politics'
all based within a peculiar kernel

and since I never attempt meeting “real” people
within their 'private discourse'
I only meet the ever fantasizing "phantom persona”
playing 'non-business'
within a 'local culture'

that is acting out
enforcing inculcated roles
in a 'business environment,'

turned abusive medium
as if attached to 'superior' rights...

while I,
“this guy”
is practicing just another 'shopping adventure'

Posted by Andreas at 10:52 AM | Permalink

winter - gardening

like
male - female
hyphenated relations
make nature obey words

constructs
force raw nature into war

culture =
language cult displacing nature

"love" constructions
within
whose relation's
coded hyphens?

or
within relations
whose code plays hyphen
acts the hyphen
enforces disappeared hyphens

Posted by Andreas at 01:00 PM | Permalink

eat it !

raw

war
as if war on culture, on pots, on cooking

green tops,
eat raw, tea war

Posted by Andreas at 12:53 PM | Permalink

finally covers part of my gardening adventure,
finally a farmer delivered a dozen bales

it's probably year round winter-gardening
what I got myself into

night temperatures above freezing,
days into the twenties of Celsiuses

clover still tiny leaves,
peas growing taller
broad beans aiming higher

potatoes coming up
green leaves slowly emerging

Now I too can build a wall against the cold-fronts
the winds blowing from the east then from the west then from the east...

micro-climate adventure
to get my seeds growing, to keep the plants warm,
to get salad leaves and greens into my system

Posted by Andreas at 12:48 PM | Permalink

cucumbers that I seeded and brought inside Sunday afternoon,
today they're up an inch plus
and growing their first leaves;
honeydew melon,Lemon cucumber, oriental cucumber
but nothing yet visible of the tomatoes

not sure when I can plant them outside into the not yet so warm
cold soil; i'll try under plastic dome, their bed is presently under row cover
to warm up...I hope - the over seeded clovers alfalfas and wild flowers are up

temperatures will go up this week with mostly sunshine
but nights are down to +5 C (40F) and up some Celsiusses

I keep things under row cover
it's supposed to preserve moisture as well

made another garden salad from dandelions and spinach leaves,
sunday, monday, tuesday, not today -at least not yet

Posted by Andreas at 02:44 PM | Permalink

date 'seeds' I put in around the 20th of March
and on Thursday the first "Palm" emerged,
Friday the second; now I'm waiting for the third

otherwise most seeds under row comer coming up

had another dandelion salad with green onion
and the first dozen or so spinach leaves

the fridge is now empty
except for frozen fish
that gets into the frying pan with water,
some capers

or
with some olive oil
fried quickly
and eaten outside on the garden bench

baked two small bread
each the size of a Kaiser roll

the fridge will be shut off
during the summer,
so the electricity bill will evaporate -

think of the dietary benefits,
the day to day creativeness,
the freshness taste buds' desire

Posted by Andreas at 09:47 PM | Permalink

and replaced with a floating row cover.

The idea was/is to catch the rain that already fell
last night. Presently +7C and raining...
It will not get down to frost this week....

the various lettuces are up,
so are some of the broad/Fava beans...
and I'm seeding more at these germination temperatures...

in the sunshine, yesterday, it was 85F/32C or so;

put all the houseplants out for an outing,
watered them with warm water;
also the geraniums put outside into the sun

fiddled all day in the garden,
taking a rest from reading/studying
alternating between books and vegetables

went for the first time since when?
to bed at 20pm and woke up at 3am;

usually go to bed at 3am and wake up at 8am,
but the "new" pattern is more agreeable during the summer:
birds are still active in the evening
so they're also the earliest in the morning;

compared to winter we have five hours more daylight
in the evening,
same in the morning
and here we don't switch the clock-

another six weeks and days will get shorter again...
but that means I will thereafter start my fall crop
of greens and vegetables

also baked some small white bread,
covered with salt and caraway seed
and ate it all

made another dandelion salad with onion greens;
I wait for the stinging nettles (richest in iron)
to add to the salad...

the Morning Cloak butterfly
went again for some dried out apple hanging in the tree,
so he must be the same returning from his/her hibernation,
flies towards me

last year he sat down on my book
both of us reading the signs of the time yet to come

Posted by Andreas at 06:27 AM | Permalink

eaten yesterday and again today,
a large -11.5" diameter - bowl full

---
A very nutritious food,
100g of the dandelion raw leaves
contain about:

2.7g. protein,
9.2g. carbohydrate,
187mg Calcium,
66mg phosphorus,
3.1mg iron,
76mg sodium,
397mg potassium,
36mg magnesium,
14000iu vitamin A,
0.19mg vitamin B1,
0.26mg vitamin B2,
35mg vitamin C

from http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Taraxacum+officinale&CAN=WIKIPEDIA
---

I always eat enough greens so I'm no longer hungry

the dandelion I cut out of the ground
so I also get some root
which I brush clean

and then cut the root in smaller pieces or not,
add the leaves, buds and
yellow flower
which blossom under the plastic dome
but not yet out in the open

added some onion green
a shot of apple juice
and some olive oil

and sat on the garden bench
eating nature's very own homegrown -pesticide free
product

also seeded today mustard greens
and French Dandelion, which I will also
inter-seed with tomatoes and beans

Now, these Dandelion greens are not bitter at all;
of course my whole system has changed
since I went on my raw juice diet
and dis-habituated my body from all kinds of "food"
and returned to my wild garden style
which really grew out of he worst hunger years
after the second world war

now Dandelion is one of the richest food
so I try to eat it as long as the garden produces it;
its the first herb of the season besides the green onion greens

by now I've over seeded most of my "beds" -
even watered the already dry parts with the dried out sphagnum moss
so the seeds don't get stuck in the crust - I hope
until new growth covers all the bed

under the plastic domes some more of the bird food corn has sprouted,
so I will nurse them along with my other crops

soon I will start the beans and tomatoes from seeds
outside under plastic cover;
I have these 4 liter milk jugs that I can put with them
under the plastic domes;

once the clouds are gone, which happens very often,
I sit outside, reading outside,
the covered beans and tomatoes
should do well to get them going under plastic

the geraniums I got were transplanted in 4" pots, watered
and already 'taken for several walks outside'
just like me sitting in the garden under the sun-
more and more new leaves are coming

Posted by Andreas at 09:16 PM | Permalink

in Saskatchewan; all leaves came from my garden:
the first bunch after washing I ate raw, the second with some virgin olive oil;
that's a good beginning for everyday green until corn salad etc kick in

I used to have a field and the two goats I had headed straight for the dandelions,
not in the middle of the field, but at the edges,
the one's that grew at that time among the clovers and weeds
and a more natural soil with humus that the field lacked
until I had it over seeded with horse pasture mix, sweet clover and red clover etc

soon the goats shared the dandelions with me,
the edible flowers are sweet

I also got French dandelion seeds still to be seeded

also planted more Fava bean seeds and started Swiss Chard seeds;
then covered the works with a plastic dome
to protect new growth from birds
and from the frost yet to come...

but after each frost I push ahead and seed more and more

over seeded a bed with wild flower seeds and red clover;
interseeded another bed with wild flower seeds

after all the rain/snow/cold/ minus 6 Celsius this morning
the sun came out and my beds were workable in the evening

Posted by Andreas at 08:07 PM | Permalink

we had +25C blue sky spring heat;
I took off all the mini greenhouse domes to "inspect" the upcoming seedlings:
Kohlrabi, Butterhead lettuce, Arugula and Sylvetta are up,

At night I again covered everything up with the plastic domes; yesterday we had rain,
temperatures dropped,
more rain today and around noon everything was covered with snow...

The peas are growing and the next warm day I got to put up a trellis.

One bed, covered on grass with newspaper, then some topsoil and manure,
was overseeded with red clover, a bird seed mix of small sunflower seeds,
white millet, milo (sorghum), red millet, canola, amaranth grain and sweet clover -
a sort of green manure to go to seed for the birds...
and build up the soil...

something similar will go next to it entirely seeded with wild flower seeds,
annual and perennials plus red clover

sweet clover will be seeded more this year in especially the dry areas
so to build up a layer with their dried out stalks after they blossomed next year;
from previous experience I observed a nice layer that soakes up rain
and keeps the moisture alive below.

I raked up into a compost hill all leaves and grass earlier in the year
and I now distribute this stuff back into the beds,
especially among below and above the potatoes

beside the beds I kept the grass so I can cut it up as 'straw'
and cover the growing beds with mulch

basically, I will grow everything on the wild side intermixing vegetables,
herbs and flowers so never to see again any raw soil
and so build up the soil for happy growing and self-mulching,
and moisture preservation...

it will take another week before temperatures go up to 18-19 C
until that time we have minus and around minus temperatures
down to freezing;
so without the greenhouse plastic domes I could not warm the ground
for sprouting and without warm water watering
warm enough

I will put in more Fava beans, they sprout like peas in colder ground only,
both nitrogen fixers to build up the soil; in other words,
my garden soil will never be again disturbed by this human

More birds are coming, a Dickcissel male with nice yellow
went to the bird waterer;
three grackles come and go, the other hundreds flew on...
I need a birdbook, I can't decipher birds I've never seen before...

also on that warm day
a Mourning Cloak Butterfly (Nymphalis Antiopa)
came very close to me and settled down on the just watered
yet to be planted bed in front of me
and soaked up some moisture...

by the fresh droppings I see that the deer are still around,
but I already closed off one "entrance"
to be followed by another and yet another...
I admit, they did an excellent job manuring the ground
throughout the winter,
so the fallen apples were nicely converted
and I will make these apples again available
by next winter...

I pruned some of the apple trees, raked the ground below,
back in February/March and propose to give them water
when fruiting will be under way...

Last week or so I made the last apple pie with apples from the garden;
they kept very well in the fridge;

I noticed the robin still finding some shriveled apple to pick on,
so I gave some of the apple pie apples to that robin and it promptly went for it;
now I got to buy some apples at the store to feed the robin...

Posted by Andreas at 06:36 PM | Permalink

"In my garden I spend my days; in my library I spend my nights.
My interests are divided between my geraniums and my books.
With the flower I am in the present; with the book I am in the past."

Alexander Smith - 1830-1867

http://essays.quotidiana.org/smith_a/books_and_gardens/

Posted by Andreas at 03:31 PM | Permalink

seed planted today;
a whole square 23"x23" , 60cm x 60cm

also another batch corn salad (Broadleaf Dutch)

we had more rain last night and during the day

everything is covered with clear plastic umbrellas,
so when the sun comes out my patch gets "hot" under the umbrellas,
but frost will still come into May/June
when I will plant beans, tomatoes, cucumbers etc
and New Zealand Spinach, all along a 15 feet trellis and some other trellis

also applied six bags cow manure to the hedge, lilies, everlastings and hostas

also fed the birds, expanding the bird drinking fountain

I planted no flowers yet: got especially climbing Nasturtium seed for another trellis

I get about two dozen plus Geraniums in pots; mostly red
none of last year survived inside

After the rain the ground is not workable; I have to watch this closely day by day

All the leaves and grass I had raked up into a large compost bed 3feetx 6feet
I topped it this morning with the 'ant hill' clay dirt I kept covered in two buckets;
and 'raked' it in with the wet grass and decaying leaves

somehow this will be raked back and goes onto/near the to be planted beans as mulch;

this is probably the last rain we get in April and after the desert takes over again;
like I said elsewhere, here we have the most sunshine in Canada

my amaranth will be mixed with red clover so to make sure
I have earth covered with some sort of growing mulch

Up front I think of planting more lettuce in the cool shade for the summer

everything I do so far is to get salads and vegetables on the table;
it's only ten weeks until the days are getting shorter again
and the fall crop needs to be planted, kept watered and protected from the sun heat...

This is Zone 2a2b probably 3a;
I never gardened in this sort of zone before

I have all kinds of Chinese vegetable seeds,
early stuff to eat
early stuff to be seeded for fall harvest etc

I got carrot seeds, several kinds

I should get a cow, because the four liter jug is now $5.29
In December it was still $4.99

but then comes the time I don't drink that stuff
I cannot propagate as I always did wherever I lived my houseplants;
plants I nursed for four years in New Brunswick couldn't manage the local water-
and I don't drink that stuff either

I hope watering the garden with it during the summer heat will produce my vegetables,
cantaloupes, melons, cucumbers, squash, etc, beans etc

Posted by Andreas at 06:34 PM | Permalink

i let it grow, let nature have her way
and grow and grow what was there to grow

now that gave me green manure turned into dry straw stuff
and leaves that I have now raked up into a pile
to make room for 'imported' compost and top-soil

so I will garden this year and next
and if I don't get enough green for my system
I'll got to move on and on until I find
a spot where nature is friendlier than the people
that live off the pharmacy and its god-given drugs

Posted by Andreas at 02:23 PM | Permalink

as if freezing temperatures want to keep on icing over the bird waterer

all the plastic umbrellas keep the sunshine but the drying wind
disappears with all the moisture

so it's about right that winter begins around Christmas
and ends around June to return its frost in September

Yesterday the local Robbin returned
looked at me
as if we already knew each other

that's April 5 in zone 2b-3a, the latter for optimists
now when I lived near Point Pelee
the earliest Robbin was May 5th

I keep feeding the birds, mostly sparrows, hundreds of them,
some sing,
the odd black bird, a pigeon or two

no squirral, deer are gone for some time now,
have not seen that singular rabbit this winter

this is dead country, build on the death required of others

Posted by Andreas at 02:10 PM | Permalink

for the last few weeks I have observed a Mourning Cloak Butterfly
www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1765
flying and gliding around the apple tree (going for rotten apples!)
and also approaching me and landing in front of me while sitting and reading
on my garden bench...

"""Range:
All of North America south of the tundra to central Mexico;
rarely in the Gulf States and peninsular Florida.
Also native to temperate Eurasia.
Comments: Adults live 10-11 months and may be our longest lived butterfly."""

Posted by Andreas at 06:55 PM | Permalink

a 'garden' never will be, the word doesn't fit,
because 'wilderness' takes its time to get established

the hard clay
was surprised to see all these weeds, grasses and wild flowers
turn into a dry mass of future mulch during the dry and hot july this year

that wild growth of course tells me:
there's potential for growing chemical factory free
vegetables and herbs

for any vegetables and herbs to make it through the dry season,
first an inch or so of humus needs to be grown from green manure,
several crops of buckwheat, rye grass, clover got to do their hard work

so 'garden' is the wrong word -
the process involved is way beyond words

I'm not sure at this time, if the August sun is hot enough to 'cook' the patch
and let the worms come up from below the dried out surface
and break up the hard clay and turn it into a modicum of 'workable soil'

as of now there's enough dry matter to pull it into the surface layer;
with today's overnight rain, a solid 10x10 plastic sheet, the edges tiedly sealed
would ' burn' the dry matter under the sun,
make the worms happy and get rid of the grass sods

then broadcasting buckwheat, a dense stand as cover crop

Not before there's humus that incorporates with the clay
nothing can be sown for over-wintering, no roots get deep enough yet
no matter how thick the mulch cover tries to be
-humus thick enough to hold the moisture during the next heat and dry spell

up front, the small grass patch is nearly dead,
so turning it also into a green manure producer
with deep rooting plants like comfrey...

but for now, after the rain, a good beginning,
overseeding it with a thick stand of buckwheat...

Parsley in the pots grows good,
stuff for the winter window sill and the salads to come

Chives the same, one pot at a time,
great green stuff for the home-baked sandwhich

I don't have a spade, it would be useless,
hard clay is stronger than me,
so let nature take its course and work the soil herself

I also got to 'work the raspberries
an old stand from last century
that needs rejuvenation

red plums are ripening,
surrounded entirely by grass
that needs to be mulched away...

the apple trees, fewer apples this year,
one two trees, their fruits turning yellow, dry meat
I suspect water shortage like last year,
surrounded by dried out weeds

getting to know the 'garden' ---
and if next winter the native deer return -
I left all-around the wild flowers stand,
the same they ate last winter

those deer produced a lot manure...
they shared the bird-seed with the birds
and 'stretched out' in the warmest spot of their garden

Posted by Andreas at 09:35 AM | Permalink