New Herb garden , Row 6 looking east, from bottom: thyme, hyssop, heliotrope, chives
On Sunday morning I got out there with our son and he helped me get the rest of the compost down and then we dug the chives in the Big garden and got them planted in Row 6.
Once that was done, I planted calendula, thyme, snapdragons, and heliotrope.
New Herb garden , Row 6 looking west, from bottom: area for hoophouse, calendula, mullein, snapdragons, chives
While I was doing this my husband had gone to the neighbors to clean out their hay area. He came back with these. They have 1 horse and it looks like some unscrupulous hay dealer unloaded these half straw bales on them back when we had the 2 bad hay years.
I am not at all fond of straw in gardens. First, it doesn’t do a good job of suppressing weeds, even when put down thickly. It’s too airy and they come right up through it.
Secondly, it’s very dangerous when wet, if used in walkways. It becomes very slippery.
Third, it doesn’t last as long as packed hay; it deteriorates far too fast.
My helper friend likes straw, so I called and left him a message that I had at least 5 bales of it. But as I thought about it, I realized I needed a LOT of loose fine hay to tuck around the little thyme and calendula plants. I had a LOT, but I’d had my intern pile it up against the fence in the Big garden to keep the weeds out.
I could use some of the mixed stuff in leaves from those bales against the fence. It would not last long, and probably would do a poor job stopping weeds, but I would not be walking on it, and I needed a lot of leaves along the fence.
So I pulled all the loose stuff off the fence in the Big garden and mulched all around the little plants. I used some of the leaves from the couple of broken bales that had come in the hoophouse area. You can see how coarse and heavy it is, not at all useful for mulching around small plants. Once the hoophouse was up, no one would be walking there.
Row 6 surviving thyme plant surrounded by thyme seedlings
Having finished bringing in the mulch hay, my husband went out and cut some more logs. Our son had moved the previously cut chunks out of the way and brought the splitter over to the new pile.
He was supposed to split some, but never got started on it. So my husband went out and split for a while.
Spirea ‘Bridal Veil’ in full flower
On Monday I’m taking a day off from the gardens. I have inside chores I must get done and it’s to be a cold dark day.
Your gardens are coming along very nicely. Great job and I know that has been a lot of work for you both.
I am delighted with my progress this year, given my limitations. It will probably take all summer to approach finishing, but so far, it's going well!
I feel the same, having hip surgery has slowed me down on my projects but my husband helps with everything which is great.