Yes, this is my garden journal for the Garden of Weedin for March, 2010. But, it is much more than simply a planting journal or gardening record. For the Hillbilly Gardener, it is a gardener resource, to use to help in planning my garden, track my low budget gardening efforts, help me keep track of what worked and what did not. This is a garden history journal to remind the Hillbilly Gardener of the many things he saw, experienced and enjoyed in his Ozarks plateau world. It is a gardener resource to be a help planning a garden and as a reminder of all of the good reasons why the Hillbilly Gardener loves his Garden of Weedin and as a tool to help me remember that everything does not always go well. In fact, sometimes in the Garden of Weedin, some things are a downright disaster. My garden journal helps me to avoid experiencing the same disaster more than once. This IS the garden history journal of the Garden of Weedin and the Hillbilly Gardener here on the Ozarks plateau of Missouri. Perhaps my efforts here will help inspire you or help you to avoid some of my mistakes. If this can be accomplished then this garden history journal will have been successful and the Hillbilly Gardener will be happy. the "Hillbilly Gardener"
Saturday / March/ 06 / 2010 - The same as last weekend, my son and I did a lot more cleaning up today around what was originally intended as the "utility area". Originally, this area was intended to be an area to contain the compost bins, tubs, trash cans used for storage, hoses, pots and buckets. But, this area grew into areas it was never intended to grow and ended up being a "catch-all". Winter around the Garden of Weedin always ends up with the outdoor area in general (the entire outdoor space) becoming a disaster area. How this happens every year, I do not know and have asked myself every year. The firewood we collected to use in the fire pit became strewn over a wide area, the left over bricks from the patio project of two years ago had to be addressed now and I have many trash cans filled with sand and soil that absolutely must be organized. Because of the way all of the beds went to weeds last year, the Hillbilly Gardener ended up with more compostable material than I know what to do with now. Last year, this was not an issue because we had some expansions in mind that would have required all of the compost I could get my hands on. But, everything has changed now. What gardener ever heard of having too much compost? Right now, the cleaning is making things look pretty good. But, there is much that still must have a home found for it. I've become convinced that there is a fine line between being "frugal" and being a "pack-rat". One may conceive of many uses for an item, and many of these uses may be quite sound, but if the reality of whether or not these items will actually be used is not honestly and accurately considered, then it becomes an easy thing to fall into the category of "hoarder". I guess that so many years of having to collect and recycle everything for lack of funds may have created a bit of hoarder in me. I really must work on this. Sunday / March/ 07 / 2010 - Just like yesterday, this day started bright, sunny and relatively warm. Oh such a welcome change from what has been the normal for this winter. The really funny thing is that what I am calling warm is actually the weather finally getting to seasonal norms. If the year had been "normal", then I would probably be calling it cool weather. But, when you've had a winter that has been 10 to 15 degrees below normal for so long and had as much snow as we've had this year, then "normal" feels quite warm. I got out and began the task of "weeding" early this year by removing a lot of weeds that had over wintered and actually flourished during the winter. This is truly amazing to me every year. While the world around us appears to be dead and lifeless, some weeds like henbit, dead-nettle and purslane are actually growing and increasing. I sometimes wonder why science doesn't investigate these plants for a form of natural "antifreeze". What an environmental boon it could be to develop an antifreeze derived from a weed. If they could, I could have a million dollar crop right here in the Garden of Weedin. The daffodils that started sprouted several weeks ago are getting ready to bloom on the south side of the house. This is a good example of "micro-climates". Because of the uncertainty surrounding this year in regard to where the address of the Garden of Weedin will be by the end of the year, I've made the painful decision not to start a lot of plants like I normally do. Instead, I'm going to purchase at least some seed and plants from our local sources as appropriate containers become available and plant directly in them. The exception may be some tomatoes and things like lettuce and other early crops that mature quickly. The tomatoes may be planted in one of the raised beds even though they may be left behind for someone else to enjoy. I piled the compost bins high with material left over from last year and still I have more material to go in. I can't remember any time when I had so much material to compost. All of this was wet down very well after its long winter drying. One thing I am looking forward to is developing new compost bins. They probably will not be the ultimate bins of my dreams which will be made of concrete blocks and concrete floors, but they will be a big improvement over what I currently have. I have conceived of bins that are graduated from 8' long X 4' deep X 4' tall for the first bin, 6' long X 4' deep X 4' tall for the second bin and 4' long X 4' deep X 4' tall for the last bin. There will be two (2) sets of these. Each bin will be separated from the others so that they can individually be covered with plastic or tarps. The bottom of each bin will be solid, raised off the ground and sloped to a collection system to catch the "tea" that runs off from each bin to use on plants rather than allowing it to soak into the ground. This has been a dream of mine for several years now. Yes, the Hillbilly Gardener is always looking forward to the future and new possibilities to grow and improve. Monday / March/ 08 / 2010 - Very pleasant, sunny and warm today. The high was right at 70 degrees with a normal high of 56. What a difference a week makes. It's like our montra in Missouri says - "If you don't like the weather here in Missouri, stick around because it WILL change!" To bad I couldn't be home to enjoy it. We had some rain last night. The first rain that did not have freezing temperatures associated with it. How much rain? I don't know. The rain gauge is still put up for the winter. Back To Top Saturday / March / 20 / 2010 - First day of spring? We had a snow storm today! It has been well above above freezing the last several days with highs in the 50's, so I have no way of knowing exactly how much moisture has fallen. It started as rain then changed to a lot of sleet then snow and a lot of it. When it ended this evening we had 3 or 4 inches in the ground. Yah, this looks like spring! Saturday / March / 27 / 2010 - I picked up a couple of pounds of onion sets in town today. Red and yellow. Yah, I'm going to go ahead and plant some things. At least some spring crops like onions and cabbage. Later, I'm going to plant some tomatoes. All of these will be planted in the raised beds. If we move - - - well someone else will get some vegetables. I can't go without planting something. Tuesday / March / 30 / 2010 - I had my son remove the leaf mulch from the raised beds today. The temperature was into the low 80's today! It's supposed to be in the 80's Wednesday and Thursday also. From cold and wet to start the month to sunny and warm to end the month. March - in like a lion - out like a lamb. With the beds uncovered, I hope to get them dried out so I can plant onions this weekend. After uncovering the garlic bed, I discovered that the white garlic has pretty much all rotted from the exceedingly wet and cold winter. The purple garlic is fairing better, but looks pretty ragged. Garlic and cold, wet winters don't go well. That's why it isn't grown a lot here and I never grew it a much. I was hoping that the raised beds would make a difference and it did with the purple garlic. I still think that around here, it needs to be covered with some form of cover to protect it from the wet. The cold won't matter as much as long as it's mulched, but the wet is a different story. This brings up a whole new problem though. I will need to be watering all winter. The carrots that I left in the ground faired much better. They are small, but in good shape. I didn't expect them to be very large since I planted them so late last year. I thought the "baby carrots" would be fun for the granddaughters. The purple carrots - I don't know about though. They don't look very appealing to me. They taste good - just look kind of like there is something wrong with them. At this stage in their growth, they do not have a uniform, deep purple color. Just kind of "muckle-dee-done". the "Hillbilly Gardener" Back To The Top | 
