Earth Day

Richmond, RI's Earth Day celebration will be held Saturday May 1st at the Richmond Town Hall (corner of Routes 138 and 112). I will be there representing the Richmond Farmers' Market. See you there!

New raised bed

We've finished one raised bed with bricks. After removing the old lumber and weeding the beds, I filled them with new compost and loam. Karen helped by making the surface for the first layer of bricks flat. Since we're just laying the bricks without cement, it's important to have them flat and consistent. Once we built the bed (70' x 5') I smoothed out the compost to fill the bed and added my homemade organic fertilizer. We will be planting early spring veggies like radishes, beets, lettuce and carrots this weekend! I also have another bed to finish and more compost to move!

Out with the old

Ripping out six raised beds that measured 20' by 5' by 8 inches tall was no easy feat. Some of the wood was so rotted it crumbled in my hands. Some of it was almost as good as new, which presented a major disposal problem. You see, my local trash pick up would not take the lumber I removed from the beds. So, I bought the Bagster. This handy little "Dumpster in a bag" is 8 feet by 4 feet and 3 feet high. The 10 foot boards were too long to fit in the Bagster. In the end, not only did I have to rip out the wood from the ground and transport it to the curb where the Bagster resides, but I had to saw a bunch of the intact boards in half so they would fit. In actuality, I didn't really have to saw them all the way in half. I cut about halfway through the board and then finished the job by stomping on the lumber with my foot. We're not going for precision cuts after all! With that messy job complete I can now focus on the next stage of the project which is to fill the beds with compost. Smithfield Peat delivered ten yards of compost so I've got plenty to last a good long while!

Raised beds

One of the things that I advocate for all gardeners and farmers is to use raised beds. If built properly, they last for years, provide better drainage and allow plants to better establish their root system. Raised beds can also allow easier access without compacting the soil to weed, maintain plants and harvest. Above is a picture of one of the first raised beds I built eight years ago. These beds were made of untreated wood that I nailed together and held into the ground with rebar. The fact that they lasted eight years surprised me. Since the wood is untreated (I recommend untreated wood so that chemicals will not leach into the soil, your plants and your food) it has started to rot. This is especially true where the wood comes into contact with the soil. So, last year I decided to start working on a more permanent solution. I removed the wood from a couple of beds (no easy task) and replaced them with two pallets of cinder blocks. This solution worked fine, but did not create a nice visual. This spring, I came up with a new plan, I would take three raised beds and replace them with one super long bed 70' in length. Red brick will be used where the wood used to be for a nice visual. And by elimating the space between beds, I will create even more growing space. I will repeat this twice more to create three long 70' rows that are five feet wide and use this as some of my main spring growing space. Removing and disposing of wood, moving and installing brick, filling with compost, prepping the bed and planting the bed are the steps we will be taking in this huge project. Check back to follow along.

Daffodils

Daffodils are another sure sign of spring. After Crocus, Daffodils and Hyacinth are the next bulbed flowers to bloom in the spring in the Northeast. While most Rhode Island gardens had Daffodils blooming a few weeks ago, ours just started blooming. That's due to our location in a cool valley where there are late frosts and cold snaps even when the rest of the state is warm. Because of this microclimate, many of our plants bloom days or even weeks later than the same plants just a couple of miles away!

Weeping Cherry

We purchased this weeping cherry from Meadowbrook Herb Garden years ago when we were looking for a tree to put near our berm. It was near the end of the season and this tree was one of the few left. It had a certain Charlie Brown Christmas tree charm due to its crooked trunk and the fact that it was sitting alone in the nursery. We have since enjoyed this tree's blooms every spring. However, we do have to keep on top of pruning it back because it sends out runners relentlessly. We took one of the runners and replanted it two years ago and it is now thriving as a traditional "upright" tree with a straight trunk. Last year, my brother visited from California. I was showing him the tree when a bee landed on my arm, then another and another and another. Dozens of bees were coming after me! I got away with a single sting and it was only later that I discovered a huge bee's nest under the canopy of the tree. The hive was huge, bigger than a football and invisible because of the dense canopy of the tree. In the winter the hive fell off the tree and we discarded it, but I am sure the bees will be back this spring.

Magnolia

A couple of years ago Karen got me a Magnolia tree. I have always admired Magnolias so we planted it in a prominent spot in the front yard near our perennial border. It has grown from a tiny stick to over three feet high in a couple of years and every April it gives off wonderful blooms. Magnolias are an ancient species, having evolved 20-95 million years ago. Because they evolved before bees, Magnolias were pollinated by beetles and had to have tough leaves to keep the beetles from damaging foliage.