Spring is sprung

The grass is riz

Oh how sweet

The flowers iz

That was an old poem from childhood that stuck with me.  And some of the flowers iz already sweet, like a big run of forsythia in the field behind the house.

Now it’s time to get ready for and into some serious gardening.  Last year I improvised a trellis for King of the Garden Lima beans that I was growing for the first time.  They are heirlooms that were supposed to get 12′ tall, and they did, but I made them go over instead of up after 8′.  Nobody wants to climb a ladder to pick beans.  I mean, I’m just too old for such nonsense.  I grew lots of Limas and Kentucky Wonder green beans on that trellis, and names the trellis Encouragement.  https://sarasinart.net/2014/07/23/remember-that-trellis-i-named-encouragement/

Having learned to think big about 12′ Limas, this year we’re building a structure, lol, called a bigger and different trellis.  4′ re-bar will go into the ground 1′, and the other 3′ of it will be lashed to bamboo upright poles, about 8′ high.  Then I wired together this thing for on the top.  It’ll take my son and DIL and I to raise this bamboo thing up and attach it to the top of the bamboo uprights with plenty of good strong garden wire.  Bamboo is tough and durable stuff, and so is that wire, so I hope it will work out the way it is planned in my mind. Here’s the top part laying in the ground, waiting to be put up.

Lots of beans can grow on there. Limas, green beans, and Eliza’s Thai yard long purple beans.   https://sarasinart.net/2014/09/26/thai-purple-podded-yard-long-beans/ Peas are already planted on the pyramid trellis that had green beans on it last year.  Peas come and go quick so in a month I’ll also plant kidney beans at that pyramid, and Dylan wanted black turtle beans and they’ll go there too.

Black eyed peas have to go in the fence area to be as far away from the house and walkway up from the garage as possible, since they attract yellow jackets and Dylan is allergic to them.  Each bunch of black eyes has a thing called a nectary attached, and wasps and yellow jackets are always around those.  I have to be careful myself when I pick them, not to anger any of them and get stung myself.  https://sarasinart.net/2014/07/27/black-eyed-peas-2/

It’s time to get serious about mostly one handed gardening, having had shoulder surgery that I’m still recovering from with physical therapy.  But I’m determined, and I have a couple good helpers, and very good ground, and two green thumbs.  So lots of good stuff should get growing here in a while.  If you can garden, good luck with yours.  What a good feeling, growing some of your own food.

And being able to put some stuff away for winter.  I have a few portions of things left that I froze last year: collards, green beans and tomato sauce.  That stuff tastes so good when it’s cold out and you remember how it grew right out there , in the summer, when everything was beautiful.  Everything is starting to get beautiful again now.