Quote I came across today:

“A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history – with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila.” -Mitch Ratliffe

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So, the garden in the country is finally fully planted.
– Seven and a half rows of Yukon Gold potatoes
– Three rows of carrots
– Two rows of beets
– Two hills of pumpkin
– Two hills of zucchini

Seeing how warm it was going to be all week, I went out there last night to water. It took the better part of an hour to do it. It’s sort of manual drip irrigation. I’ve got a modified gas siphon clamped to the horse waterer and a fifty foot hose. Each spud gets watered individually to keep down on weeding. I think we have about 300 plants, so yeah, it takes a while with me standing over each one for about ten seconds.

There was a Medieval technique I used to use when I had a garden out west of town. Everything that wasn’t in boxes was in raised beds, just rows of humped up dirt for everything from beans to carrots. Between the rows I tamped with a hoe and constant walking, so the weeds never had a chance. After a big rain, of course they’d try and struggle up, but I’d take the hoe and lop their heads off and the sun would do the rest. Never had a single weed between the rows.

The problem in the garden out east is that the soil is so rich you’d have to go down about two feet to get to anything solid enough to tamp. But once the all the horse manure gets worked in in a few years, I’ll probably go back to that way of doing it. Hugely minimal effort for a weedless garden.

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This day last week it was snowing – one month before the longest day of the year.

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Today’s the first day of the year I came to work without a jacket. Climate change much?