My second order from Food Forest Nursery shipped on Monday with an expected delivery date of Wednesday, March 22.
But when the tracking didn't say "Out for Delivery" on Wednesday morning, I knew something had gone wrong...AGAIN! Sure enough...
I called the Lamar post office this morning to see if they could tell where the package is, but they can't see anything more than I can using USPS tracking. However, the nice lady I talked to said she knew some people who work in logistics, and she was going to see if they could find out why both of these packages were misrouted, and where this package is.
I'm a bit worried about this one though. If it doesn't show up in a timely manner, or if the contents are damaged, I don't think there was any additional insurance purchased on it, and its contents cost more than the $50 minimum insurance coverage.
Maybe it will show up. I'm trying not to let my pessimistic side win out. I think I've only refreshed the tracking like 100 times today....
But on a happy note, when I took Mo around the pond today, we saw a dragonfly and some frog spawn! The Weather Channel lets you enter your zip code to look at your long range forecast, and while I know you can't put much stock in those kinds of things, it's possible that the freeze on March 20 will be our last one of the spring.
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| April 2023 weather outlook for our area. |
Of course that means I'm very, very tempted to start setting out some of my transplants. I'll think about it some more though...because none of the things I set out early look very good.
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| Frost damage on the green peas. |
Even though it was a weekday, I did manage to get just a little bit done this afternoon after I got off work. Yesterday I hauled in four cartloads of spoiled hay, and today I brought in four more.
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| A mountain of hay on the Charles Dowding "No Dig"/Ruth Stout bed. |
On Tuesday, I had set out one of my native honeysuckle cuttings since it should be able to survive a frost, and the roots were starting to come out the bottom of the pot! It took it a while to root, but once it did, it took off growing like crazy!
But it only made it through one night before something at the top out of the new shoot. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a rabbit, because it was caged with bricks around it. Perhaps a slug?
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| The little honeysuckle vine with its top eaten out. |
I really hope it will put out more growth pretty soon, because if whatever is eating it keeps eating it, it won't last very long. It's just not that big!
As I was walking Mo around the yard this morning, I noticed some big holes in the garden. "What has been digging those big round holes?" I wondered. Then it dawned on me what the holes were. They were the cavities left when the Daikon radishes rotted away!
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| Daikon radish holes |
The radishes did what they were supposed to do...they grew down into that compacted dirt and opened up holes for water to soak in. Yay for the Daikon radishes!
I guess all of the cover crops are doing their thing, although I can look at them now and realize I made some mistakes in the way I planted them. The crimson clover that is protected behind some wire is big and lush looking, but where it's not protected, the rabbits have eaten it back to just little short stems.
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| Crimson clover mixed with Red Deadnettle in the tomato row. |
And interestingly enough, all of the vetch that was interplanted with the Daikon radishes and crimson clover has also been eaten down to the ground. But there's one small patch that was interplanted with some winter rye, and for whatever reason the rabbits haven't bothered that, even though it's not caged or covered in any way.
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| Hairy Vetch/Winter Rye cover crop. |
I'll need to do some reading about that, and find out if the winter rye is something the rabbits just don't eat or if that's just coincidence. I really want my cover crops to grow and be successful this year because I think they're absolutely one of the easiest ways to improve the soil!
Since we may have seen the end of the cold weather, I've started thinking about how to lay out my rows in the west part of the garden. I made two raised rows last year, but I'm thinking I might actually turn those into one Hügelkulture row because they're really too close together. Plus, I still have several more rotting logs that need a home, and that seems as good a use for them as any. But we'll see.
For the rest of that area, I'm thinking that maybe rather than try to put in long narrow rows, I might try some wider beds, making my walking rows between them about 18" wide. I just need to think carefully about how I could plant things like my okra and corn in wide beds because once I get them built, it will be hard to redo them!
But I won't be working on building any new beds for the next few days. We have heavy rain in the forecast, with a possibility of some severe weather.
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| Radar at 8:35 pm on March 23. |
That might be a project for the weekend though. We'll see how things go.