New goings on at Birch Creek Farm
by Kathy Osborne
Hello everyone. I hope this blog finds you well and gardening in all the ways that give you joy.
It is hard to believe that tomorrow is July 1 already. What a difference a year makes! Last year we were suffering with 90 degree plus temperatures, the gardens were dying, we had so little rain that hay harvests was 2/3 what it should have been…..2021 was rough.
Fortunately we had a good deal of rain this spring and yet, when I dug down into the soil in the garden to put in the dahlias yesterday, 5 inches down it was dry.
My corn failed to germinate. This happens more often than it should and I sometimes wonder if seeds have a kill date built in. I wonder because I have had better germination with 15 year old seeds my Mom had on hand years ago than with what I find today. And has anyone else noticed FEWER seeds in the packets?? So, I have soaked a full package of corn seeds, a ‘ready in 63 days’ variety, and will get them into the ground as soon as they sprout. I have done this before. It works.
My garlic and onions are doing very well. I just harvested garlic scapes a couple days ago. What a yummy treat!
This year I tried ordering strawberry plants from Burpee seed catalog. I ordered 25 plants and they all came in healthy and green. But of the 25, only 18 survived. This 18 already have berries and are sending out runners. Normally I would trim the runners to put energy toward berry production. But I kind of want to get some more plant starts. It is yet another experiment. I have room enough in that bed for 6-12 more plants.
All of the black berries and raspberries are thriving in the well mulched and watered pen. I for one am looking forward to raspberry jam this winter! I also have blueberries potted but haven’t decided where they will go.
Something new for me this year is wheat. I am going to plant some soft spring wheat. I bought it locally and it is organic. This is just another experiment. Also new this year is sweet potatoes. They take a long time to mature so we will see how that goes.
No pictures yet because I still have too many weeds and it is just embarrassing. But I have a long weekend coming up so hopefully I will get a handle on it.
Until next time.