First harvest of cilantro and some ideas.

 Due to sleeping in a lot, getting a shower, walking Rocky and eating, I usually don't get out to the garden until around noon. Which means this time of year and in summer it is very, very warm outside. Weather report says we might get rain next week possibly as early as Sunday. Riiiight..the wind is coming up a bit but will see what happens.

So as a result of the warm weather, watering was needed.

 

The potatoes are growing very quickly now, I would say they gained a lot since even yesterday. Just needed that warm weather to kick in. Am kicking ideas around in my head on how to sift out the larger bits of wood and rocks out of that bed when the time comes. 

Something that I noticed and mentioned before is drainage difference between the two holes.

There is still a puddle of water in the closer hole where all the other soil is drained completely. I know there's a lump of clay under there because I found it digging around the other day. This can be dangerous to any potatoes growing in there as it would deform them and also possibly rot. Will see about fixing that tomorrow hopefully without damaging the potato plant too much.

I felt it was time to trim the cilantro finally. The good thing about leafy stuff is you take the mature leaves and leave the young ones to grow up.

That's a good half bunch of cilantro, just enough to put in a batch of salsa I think. Sadly all I have is fresh tomatoes and canned tomatoes. will have to look into other recipes for that.

Almost pulled a few more radishes but decided to wait a bit longer. I examined the soil and sure enough there is more compost bits where the larger plants are than the other end so there you go.

I am also kicking around ideas on the compost bin idea. I was watering the tomato, looked at the woodpile, looked at the corner, looked at the woodpile... I wonder.... 

If I can stack the pieces and make a three sided area with the smaller logs.... or maybe even a four sided one. shovel dirt and scraps into it, easy to just pull it apart, stir things up and put it back together again. That's a lot of work. Most of the logs are either the chunky full trunk diameter or branches that were cut into smaller bits which means they are not very even nor long.

I wanted to be able to get closer to the wall over there anyway, or did because I thought I could use the dirt all the way to the wall. Still want to clear it out of there.

Now as far as the sifter would be for getting the dirt better that is easier by far. Some places in my area actually carry soil sifters. Depending on the size of the screen needed you can make your own frame and buy some 1/8 inch wire mesh and take it on. Also go to the local second hand stores and find kitchen sifters or colanders, smaller scale and take longer but would still work for the scale I''m working on.

One type I saw that someone made is a frame that has two legs mounted on opposite sides so you can rock it back and forth. Really good for larger areas the frame itself was no bigger than about 2x2 feet and the legs were about three or four feet long. Again more work than I need to put into this right now. Have to work on getting the soil right for when the potatoes get bigger and have to cover up the stem.

A downside to sifting all the large particles out is all I am going to be left with his sandy clay with maybe a little organic matter. Very little. so in that case a better compost is needed to work in with the siftings as I go. This will all have to be done after the potatoes are harvested then another crop can be planted in there, maybe another zucchini or tomato. That north side is in sun I would say all year round and moreso in the winter so it makes for a good location for a lot of things.

In my 'window shopping' for a home there are words used that makes me cringe and gets my hackles up, 'easy care yard' and 'low maintenance landscaping'. That usually means either all rock, paving, artificial grass or a combination of all that. Paving and rock I can do raised beds but still are a heat reflector in inland areas so very not good. Artificial turf... nope, no, no way. Mobile homes are less expensive and some of the utilities are covered by the lot lease but usually in parks not a whole lot of space and you are shoulder to shoulder with neighbors. I want land, not a lot, but enough to have breathing space between me and any neighbor. So my search continues on for that perfect plot that I still don't have the money for. 

It'll get there.