#22 Second Wettest April

                We have just left the second wettest April in the history of record keeping, and May doesn’t look any better. The madman and his hot peppers are not happy with this cold, damp weather. But the onions, beets, carrots, radishes, kale and all of its cousins are loving it. Remember those peas that the madman was fretting about until he finally planted them – they look fantastic and are heading in the direction of a banner crop; barring the re-appearance of the woodchuck (Marmota monax).

It’s Beltane Time

                The madman’s mood has mirrored the weather lately. But when he flipped the calendar to a new month, a huge smile brightened his face. May 1. You may think he was excited to see that May Day had arrived, but for the madman the smile was caused by Beltane – another holiday on the Celtic Wheel of the Year. Remember our post on the Persephone Period? We talked about the annual cycle of seasonal festivals. “It’s been three months since Imbolc,” he said. “Things are going to get better.” You see, Beltane, like Imbolc, is a cross quarter point on the Wheel of the Year. It marks the halfway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. Historically this was a time to celebrate the return of summer. Livestock was driven to summer pastures and the earth was warm enough to plant seeds.

Too Wet to Celebrate with a Bonfire

                After the long winter, members of the community would gather around a roaring bonfire. Fire was seen as a healer and purifier; the Beltane bonfires were thought to increase the fertility of the fields and protect the livestock as they headed out to summer pastures. The madman loves a good bonfire. Unfortunately the wet April made it impossible for him to find even a stick of dry firewood. However, with the help of some gasoline, he managed enough of a fire to symbolically cleanse the yard of the Eastern tent caterpillars (Malacosoma americanum). And, a working gas grill made it possible to cook quite a feast!

Frost!

                Now, with the celebration of Beltane behind us, the madman is more than anxious to get things into the garden. He always tries to rush the season, but I have to remind him that here in Connecticut our climate is a little behind the British Isles. In fact, we just had a frost and he was out there furiously covering his plants and moving others to shelter.

                But, all is not lost—instead of planting, we are preparing. After all, safe planting is only two weeks away. Vegetable beds have to be fluffed. Compost has to be added. Paths have to be maintained.

Using the Best Spot

                Our vegetable garden is somewhat unique. Most people have back yard vegetable gardens. Not the madman. His veggies are in the front of the house. This was just the best place for the garden. Our front yard has a gentle slope with southern exposure and full sun. Why wouldn’t he use it?

                At one time, the entire garden was rototilled in the fall and planted with a green cover crop. Then, in the spring the madman spent most of his free time rototilling the cover crop into the soil over and over again. It seems he spent every weekend following his Troy Built through the garden. He had to constantly repeat the tilling to keep the winter rye from coming back. Because the winter rye was like a green manure and added nutrients to the soil, the madman felt the labor was a good trade off. We laugh when we think about those tilling days.

The Madman Changed his Style

                In 2011 we took the UConn master gardener program and were exposed to many different gardening philosophies. The madman learned about soil compaction and how his many years of driving a heavy piece of equipment over the soil repeatedly caused the soil to be compressed. While he thought he was making loose soil, just below the reach of the tines, the soil was turning to concrete. Roots often had a difficult time penetrating the barrier and required more frequent watering.

                He also learned about double-digging and raised beds, and decided that the garden would undergo a complete renovation in the fall. Over the summer he came up with a master plan for his future garden. He would have permanent garden beds and permanent garden paths. The garden beds would never see another footprint – they were off limits.

Surprise Find in the Garden

                To create this new garden, he had to double dig each bed. Because of time he could only do one section at a time. First, the madman would rototill the garden bed. Then he removed all the loose soil, leaving an 8” deep ditch. Then, the rototiller was run through the ditch to loosen the next 8” of soil. Imagine his surprise when the tines of his tiller snagged an old water heater buried many years ago by a previous owner. It took him quite a while to get that thing out.

                After all obstacles were removed from the second tilling, he then added compost and the original topsoil, creating a raised bed and leaving a walking path. This process was repeated to create a series of beds and paths. I thought the sizes were random, so imagine my surprise when I realized that the paths just happened to be the width of his rototiller — an easy way to get rid of summer weeds he said.

Evolving Weed Solution

                The basic framework of the vegetable garden has remained the same, but we have made improvements over the years. First, rototilling the paths really didn’t work. Actually, it was great the day he tilled, but the weeds came back real fast – even some of the old winter rye showed up. You see, rototilling brings new weed seeds to the surface. So we would carefully till, rake the soil flat and watch the weeds grow back. Weeds soon took over. Then the madman learned about mulch.

                We had been using mulch to suppress weeds in a number of other garden areas. It worked, so why not try it in our paths. Thanks to our work in the focus garden at Haddam, we were introduced to the stirrup hoe. By running the hoe along the path, the madman was able to cut the roots of anything that got in his way. He then wheelbarrowed in whatever mulch we had on hand – usually bark or leaf. This actually worked and made the garden look much neater. He has to pay for bark mulch, but the leaf mulch is free; actually we have expanded our gathering and storage. Now any plant that dares to show its face through the mulch is quickly dispatched by hand or stirrup hoe.

Working Between Raindrops

                We do try crop rotation, but in a small garden this is difficult. The madman prefers successive plantings and active scouting for pests and diseases. By the time we celebrated Beltane, we had planted the first rows of vegetables. Between raindrops we prepared the next set of beds for planting. By the time May 15 rolls around we should be ready to go.

                Because he always likes to have a project in the pipeline, the madman took advantage of a brief lull in the rain to convince Bill to rent a sod cutter. It is time to expand the meadow and move the cactus garden – but those are topics for a later post.

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                The Gray catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) showed up the other day. He was quickly followed by a couple of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (Pheucticus ludovicianus) and a Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula). They seem to be the last of the migrating songbirds we usually see. And their appearance signals the end of cocoa season.

Time to switch to lemonade.