Three Sisters Planted

Bed 15 with corn, squash and beans

At last, everything is in the ground. The last holdouts had been the Three Sisters that require the corn to be established ( 4 inches or so) before the squash and beans are planted around them. Each bed took two packages of beans (about 50 beans) and two packages of squash (about 50 or more). If we had too many seeds, we just went back in the same row; too few, we just spread them out more. Since each bed is 4 x 22, there is "around" "roughly" "about" one squash/bean per square foot (i.e one squash/bean seed per corn seed). We'll see later if we are undercrowded or overcrowded. 


Here's another picture:

Bed 13 with corn, beans, squash plus some potatoes from last year.

Cleaned up the Raspberries

Raspberry Beds

Last fall, we were quite rigorous removing the two year old canes so that this year there is lots of room for new growth (primacanes). Today, we surrounded each of the five raspberry beds with sisal rope, confirmed which raspberries were growing within each perimeter, then brutally removed the ones growing outside the perimeters. Of course, the prunings are left in the paths as mulch. All the canes are laden with flowers and ripening fruit. It's going to be a great year for raspberries. 

Search "pruning raspberries" on Google to understand when to prune, what to prune, primacanes, floricanes, etc.

Two FYIs here: Sisal rope is heritage and would have been employed by the Riel family. A clove-hitch knot works very well to attach the rope to our stakes.

First Day of Summer . . .

. . . . and everything is blooming. . .

Peonies at Riel House

Gaillardia, Harebells and Black Eyed Susans in the Parking Lot Garden

Native Grasses in the Parking Lot Garden

Caterpillar on Golden Alexander in the PLG

. . .  and more caterpillars . . . 

 

Everything is Planted

Everything is planted, at least until the corn comes up. 

• Kitchen Garden
• Produce Garden

The Bump

We also planted some pumpkins and sunflowers on the soil that was displaced when the electrical line went between Riel House and the tent. We have named this area The Bump in reference to Fred Penner's "The Bump ".

Mulch - Nature's Band-Aid, Nature's Swiss Army Knife

The main path from Riel House to the tent used during rainy weather is dirt; and of course, when wet, mud. Tree and bark mulch, in this case made from last fall's prunings, has been used to cover this path. Note that the mulch stops where the path enters the Riel House historical area of 1886. At that time, paths were left as grass or covered with boards.

Of course, we have also mulched the paths in the Produce Garden and Kitchen Garden with leaf mulch to smother weeds as well as in all the flower beds to minimize weeds and to retain moisture for the plants. 

Ideally, you should never see bare earth. Nature wants to cover a bare area as quickly as possible. Usually, what grows there are called "pioneer plants" or more commonly weeds.