December 25: Guerilla Gardening

Merry Christmas everyone!

After I got home from Christmas dinner with my husband's family earlier this evening, I gave the soil in my SFG a poke with my toe. It gave. I became excited.

See, I missed my intended planting window for my potato onions and garlic over Thanksgiving. (One thing after another; either not feeling well, or really busy at work, or bad weather, etc. etc. etc.) And then the ground froze, big time. And then it snowed.

Well, lately the 3" of snow is mostly gone to bare traces here and there, and it's gotten up almost to 40 during the day the last few days. Which is why I've been shoving the toe of my shoe at the soil every time I go past, when I remember to do so. And given we're supposed to get 3-5" more snow tomorrow, that tiny give of the dirt against my shoe really got my attention.

Which is all a roundabout way of explaining how I wound up outside tonight at 9 p.m. in pitch black, freezing cold, on my knees, in my old bluejeans, sweatshirt, old shoes and gardening gloves (no coat) with a dandelion puller and twelve of my biggest potato onion sets.

The ground really is frozen out there... that teeny give was just a tease. I found, however, that even my poor version of Mel's mix is SO nice and soft that once I got that puller started into the dirt... if I put all my weight against it, the first couple inches were REALLY tough, but after that, I could get it hilt deep pretty easily. I then rotated it around in a spiral, managing after some effort to loosen up a hole just wide and deep enough for each onion set. I did 3 squares of 4 each... and honestly, it was quite a workout. I wanted to get the garlic in, too, but it will just have to wait for spring, or the next "warm"-ish patch of weather. I pulled up my poor cabbage that never did get anywhere, along with my dead nasturtiums and some of the fall pansies, tore them up a bit and laid them over the area I'd planted as a kind of mulch. Not sure it will stay put, but better than nothing... and it really doesn't look like the ground's been worked.

Cheers!

Way to go Megan! What a lovely Christmas gift for you to finally be able to plant your potato onions. A little workout on Christmas day is not a bad thing either. A good way to work off Christmas dinner.

I'm so proud of you!!!

's math a fhuaras tu well done!

camprn wrote:'s math a fhuaras tu well done!

(not finding explanation yet, but I'm sure I'm going to feel foolish when I figure it out!)

Megan, you give me hope! I haven't planted my garlic, but I forgot about the Mel's Mix v. regular old dirt difference! Yippee! I'll be out there gardening like a crazy lady when I get back to work!


you know how people talk about the crazy old ladies with cats? Are we going to be the crazy old ladies who garden?

martha wrote:you know how people talk about the crazy old ladies with cats? Are we going to be the crazy old ladies who garden?

I can't speak for the others, but I already am a crazy old lady with a cat who gardens. (I mean I do the gardening, not the cat.) Although, she does do a lot of digging in the dirt...never mind.

Hmm...letting the cat do the gardening...now THERE is a concept.

ander217 wrote:

martha wrote:you know how people talk about the crazy old ladies with cats? Are we going to be the crazy old ladies who garden?

I can't speak for the others, but I already am a crazy old lady with a cat who gardens. (I mean I do the gardening, not the cat.) Although, she does do a lot of digging in the dirt...never mind.

+1

martha wrote:

camprn wrote:'s math a fhuaras tu well done!

(not finding explanation yet, but I'm sure I'm going to feel foolish when I figure it out!)

Gaelic = how much you have achieved!

Hee.... you guys crack me up!!!

Good luck with your guerrilla gardening, Martha!