Gardens Updates

     Well, I got my 16 cubic yards of "brown dirt" delivered and I've been moving it from one great heap to the places needed most. One shovelful, one wheelbarrow full at a time.
     My ginseng patch is complete, just awaiting for green to appear there.  My salsify (oyster plant), beet, radish and carrot patch is complete and I'm seeing some sprouts breaching the surface there.  Watermelon plants are sprouting from free seeds I fetched out of the refuse bin in the produce department from their sliced and chunked melons. You know me, I love free seeds and such as that!
     The store had a load of succulent plants in pots that I saw as pricey but I did fetch home a few bits that had gotten broken off and stuck them into troughs of dirt. They'll either become free plants or free compost.
     I'll still need a few bags of compost/manure or at least better grade soil to mix in with my "brown dirt" to fill in my remaining raised bed gardens. As always, I mix in lawn trimmings and kitchen refuse in a tub to work into my beds.

     My domesticated grape vines budded and flowered amazingly well but seem to be promising little to no fruit. Oh, well. There's next year. My muscadine (wild grapes) are showing some promise, though. As for my apple trees, I have some ping pong to golf ball sized fruits on the trees. Two of the Anna variety and 4 of the Granny Smith which is our favorite.
      I brought in a handful of blueberries which were quite tasty, being all the better as I grew them myself.
     My maters and peppers in the container gardens are doing quite well and rain withstanding I hope to get my okra, greens and salsa patches finished directly.

     The catalpa worms on my trees are growing visibly daily. I really need to find a way to harvest and preserve the critters for feeding to my lizards if I don't get to go fishing with them.

     One last note. Bella, my killer dachshund, slew a field mouse adult somewhere in the house last night. That, I was happy about. However, her leaving the carcass on the sofa wasn't a thrilling discovery!