Different Gardening Strategy for Me

This is the year I need to replenish my canned tomatoes and tomato juice.  Instead of tearing up the garden area which I have replanted with grass, I asked my husband for raised beds.

My husband and I are sooooo hard to buy for when it is a gift giving event.  Last Christmas I asked for 55 gallon drums cut in half. I didn't really request the legs on them.  That was his idea.  They also have nice slices on the bottoms for drainage.  There is straw, gravel, and rotten logs (humus material) under this nice top soil.

Right now there are six raised beds like this.  I will most likely add a few more things to this area to grow cucumbers and zucchini.  I don't know where I put my melons yet.

This giant birthday cake structure is where my strawberries will be planted.  I better get planting some this week.  I had strawberries growing in this on another part of the property.  Poison ivy took over it in the off season.  I couldn't get to it because poison ivy really effects me.  My husband took it down and saved it.  This seems like a good place for it now.

Here's a pic of them together.  The garden hose will reach across the driveway to this area.

Last night we drove to Mt. Eaton Greenhouse.  It's a really nice Amish, family owned business.  My mom used to shop there for all of her plants.  They are quality plants and are reasonably priced.  The staff is super helpful.  I bought two different types of strawberries to plant in my strawberry "birthday cake".  I bought things like catnip, different parsley plants, lavender plants, and cilantro.  This year I bought three different kinds of blueberry bushes.  It will be a new experiment for me to plant blueberries.  I picked three different varieties to try to get more fruit.

Instead of putting the leftover topsoil back on the pile, I had him dump it in the chicken yard area so that I could build up the spot where the little turtle sandbox sits.  I use the little sandbox as a duck pond for my runner ducks.  They are getting a little older and can't as easily step into the "pond".  Now that I built it up around there with dirt they can easily get in and out of it again.  The pond is small enough that I can dump out the water and rinse it out to keep it clean for them.

Last weekend I also found some morels on the hill.  Two years ago I found a few dried up morels on another property that weren't fit to eat.  I brought them home and broke them up and scattered them in this area with hopes and dreams that some would eventually grow in this area.  The area is perfect for them.  Hunting mushrooms was a big deal with my family when I was a kid.  I finally have some on our property.  Woohoo!

It's always fun to hear what people call these types of mushrooms.  The darker one on the left we call a "woodsy".  They are usually tall with a small head on them.  The other two (both have the tops missing) we call spongies.  I'm thinking these were hit by the mower before being found because I was mowing in the area earlier that day.