As I worked on this post, I realized I should point out, the images are not my own, and are credited through the links that directly relate to them in the post. My camera is lost in the abyss of scatterbrainedness, but I'll pick it up again soon, I'm sure.
It's time for the Winghaven plant sale again! You've got a week and a half to sort through the list of available plants to figure out what you want before you get there. While that may seem a little anal-retentive and way organized, I promise you, it's the safest approach. Otherwise you may end up leaving several hundred dollars lighter. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Other things on their way to our house as I type--2 more exciting natives from Niche here in NC: Green and Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum), Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana); and a variety pack of Field and Forest's Shitake spawn.
Yesterday we received Lacey 6-row Barley from Dirtworks, which will be our experimental cover crop for the vegetable garden, as well as what we'll use to seed new beds until we further decide their true purpose. The cool thing about barley, theoretically, is that we'll eventually try to malt it for Hi-C's homebrew adventures. He's already decided to try to use the nuts in the backyard for some experiments and I'm talking him into trying something with rosemary, since these are all abundantly free backyard resources.
Back to the barley--I picked this particular type after a good deal of research. It was the first one I read about (on Sunset Garden's Team Beer blog), but also the one that seemed to offer the most for our small space: a lot of seed (hence the 6 row), and disease/pest resistance. [By the way, those beautiful barley pictures are from the Sunset website and are not mine.] Sometimes, I figure, with new experiments, it's good to go with easy. We have 25 pounds of the stuff, some to play with and go ahead and malt, some to plant in our spaces, and some to pass on to friends and family to grow, harvest, keep some, and share some with us (suburban crop share program!?!) I'm excited about this cooperative approach for several reasons, so I'll talk about it a lot I'm sure.
So with all this garden talk, and the conversational approach to this here blog, I wonder how you, the readers, feel about this stuff. Sometimes I'm heavy on the art schtick, sometimes on the plant matter. Which is most appealing? All of you have varied interests, I'm sure. How do you maintain the balance? I like to think both interests inspire and build upon each other, but I'm not 100% sure, so tell me about you, what you do, and how you do it!
It's time for the Winghaven plant sale again! You've got a week and a half to sort through the list of available plants to figure out what you want before you get there. While that may seem a little anal-retentive and way organized, I promise you, it's the safest approach. Otherwise you may end up leaving several hundred dollars lighter. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Other things on their way to our house as I type--2 more exciting natives from Niche here in NC: Green and Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum), Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana); and a variety pack of Field and Forest's Shitake spawn.
Yesterday we received Lacey 6-row Barley from Dirtworks, which will be our experimental cover crop for the vegetable garden, as well as what we'll use to seed new beds until we further decide their true purpose. The cool thing about barley, theoretically, is that we'll eventually try to malt it for Hi-C's homebrew adventures. He's already decided to try to use the nuts in the backyard for some experiments and I'm talking him into trying something with rosemary, since these are all abundantly free backyard resources.
Back to the barley--I picked this particular type after a good deal of research. It was the first one I read about (on Sunset Garden's Team Beer blog), but also the one that seemed to offer the most for our small space: a lot of seed (hence the 6 row), and disease/pest resistance. [By the way, those beautiful barley pictures are from the Sunset website and are not mine.] Sometimes, I figure, with new experiments, it's good to go with easy. We have 25 pounds of the stuff, some to play with and go ahead and malt, some to plant in our spaces, and some to pass on to friends and family to grow, harvest, keep some, and share some with us (suburban crop share program!?!) I'm excited about this cooperative approach for several reasons, so I'll talk about it a lot I'm sure.
So with all this garden talk, and the conversational approach to this here blog, I wonder how you, the readers, feel about this stuff. Sometimes I'm heavy on the art schtick, sometimes on the plant matter. Which is most appealing? All of you have varied interests, I'm sure. How do you maintain the balance? I like to think both interests inspire and build upon each other, but I'm not 100% sure, so tell me about you, what you do, and how you do it!