Tuesday, November 13, 2012

A year gone, with more planning in the works!

So, I posted nothing in 2012, because I ended up not having a garden in 2012.  Between being in a car accident in January (I was rear-ended by a city bus) and helping my mother in law through two hip replacements (Yay, Mom!)  I never had a lot of time and/or energy work on my garden.  I did get a few things accomplished though.

This year's raspberry harvest was amazing, triple last year's at least.  Maybe it was the weather, the lack of extreme heat, the moose pruning early (baby moose took the top most shoots off in the spring, so the plants bushed out a lot more, but stayed about 4 feet tall)  I put three quarts of golden raspberries and about 1/2 a quart of red raspberries away in the freezer this year, with many more going overripe before I could pick them - Cody was quite content to slurp them up as soon as they were tossed in his direction, and is adorable when he tries so hard to catch them in mid-air - not my Sheltie's most honed skill. 

This year we went to Homer for a three day weekend, and stayed in a lovely B&B.  I spent an hour in a great little greenhouse, and went home with 1/2 a dozen primroses for my flower bed - we'll see if they come back next year.  With luck I'll have great patches of them in no time, even though the flower bed got overrun with weeds this year - my back just couldn't handle the weeding!

I've been spending more of this fall on my sewing machine than on the yard and garden, and hopefully next year won't suffer too badly for it, although it looks like I'm starting over on project: Reclaim my Yard from Weeds.  Ah well, such is the life of an Urban Farmer. 

Next year's plans - New back fence, Blackberries to go with the Raspberries, trimming back roses, and taking down a couple of big trees.  Future dreams - shed and greenhouse, preferably one building with a small chicken coop attached.  Municipal law says I can have up to 200 square feet without a permit, so I'm thinking an 8x10 shed, an 8x10 greenhouse, and a 3x3 coop with attached yard, maybe even putting the coop in one corner of the greenhouse to keep it warmer.  Hmmm.  Time to get sketching!