Breaking New Ground

I hope you can understand that I've taken a few days off. After blogging every day for a month I got a little tired. That doesn't mean that I haven't been hard at work, however. I've been eating good food (not all local, but mostly so), and doing some exciting work on the house and in the front yard.

We've had some beautiful early autumn weather recently, and it's got me thinking about preparing for the next growing season. As much as I love gardening in many different community garden spots, the simplicity of a big garden in my own yard is increasingly attractive - it's just so easy to walk out the front door and have it all at my fingertips! With that in mind I went to Jung's on Sunday looking for strawberry plants. I didn't find any, but I did find a bunch of perennial plants on sale. I couldn't resist.

Here's what I got. Greek oregano, German chamomile, chives, lemon balm, rhubarb, a clematis, a black currant, and four raspberry plants. I've been waiting my whole life to own a house so that I can plant perennials and see them come to fruition - I'm finally there!

The landscaping in the front yard was minimal at best. I added two beds here on either side of the sidewalk leading to the front yard for the chamomile, lemon balm, chives, oregano, and rhubarb. With any luck they'll be crowding each other next year at this time. The clematis went in at the base of the railing. These beds will eventually widen and expand all the way to the sidewalk - this is just the beginning.

The black currant went in against the fence, bordered by hostas. I'm not super familiar with currants, so I'm excited to see what this one does.

I tore out some ugly variegated shrubbery in this bed, bulked it up with compost, and put in the raspberries. The two shorter ones are a purple variety, the other two are an ever bearing red variety.

Before I go, just a few words about the end of the eat local challenge. As I should have expected, I didn't feel so good the first few days back of refined sugar and starch. My digestive system had gotten used to the purity of fresh veggies, meat, dairy, and fresh ground flour..... pasta and white rice were a bit of a shock. I'm slowly getting back to my "regular' diet, enjoying going out to eat occasionally, not spending so much time cooking, yet at the same time missing spending so much time cooking. Convenience is a funny thing: it makes things easier, but not nearly as enjoyable.

share on: Facebook