My deer fence looks like a carnival, the thin mesh festooned with orange and yellow flagging tape. What’s inside is not terribly tempting to deer, not yet anyway. It may not be big news for hungry humans either. The potatoes should do OK, and I hope to get some beans – especially if we get a bit of heat around here. But when your broccoli matures early with heads the size of a loonie, you know the plants are feeling stressed. They somehow know that under these conditions, they’d better reproduce while they can.
How many pioneers tried to feed their families out of soil no better than this? Recently forested, no topsoil brought in, rocky, no manure integrated into the dirt yet – not much good for anything but potatoes.
It takes time to build up soil like this – plus compost, manure and other organic matter. My ambition is to enlarge the garden with time. Newspaper and black plastic are smothering the weeds in future sections of garden.
I’m sure glad I can BUY my groceries!