The Secret Garden - May

If you were to pass through my yard right now, you probably wouldn't think twice about the garden. (Some have even called it a weed garden but that's just ridiculous.) There's even one small section that I don't sow.
Let me explain. My area is getting a pretty pretty late start in the season so some things, like my sugar snap peas, are barely sprouting.

I wasn't too worried about losing these peas since I have many more growing in a bin protected with a dual purpose cage/trellis. The ones in the ground can use last year's tomato skeleton as a trellis. I thought these seeds were going to get stolen by squirrels but they came too late. The seedlings along with the raspberries, strawberries, and various onion family plants (including ramps) are the only green in the garden right now.

Variety with the white petiole, Allium tricoccum var. burdickii

Just to the left of the raspberries and their wild garlic and onion friends is the spot I don't sow. I call this spot the dark side. It is usually shaded and cool.

I tried to fill it with garlic once, but it didn't take. Only this year, when I had a big demolition project set for the spot, did some small garlic plants come up. They were removed along with the raspberry suckers. Why did I get a variety of raspberry with an invasive growth habit all those years ago? At least I didn't make the same mistake when I bought a blackberry.

Big New Garden Project!

So what's that big demolition project, you ask? I'm going to dig and displace the dirt in that bed about one foot deep. I'll be avoiding the main raspberry cluster, apple tree, and goji berries so that gives me some constraints but that's still a lot of dirt!
Some empty pots need filling and some need topping up. As for the rest of the dirt... it can be squeezed in somewhere. So what is all this for?? I ordered some wine cap mushroom (Stropharia rugosoanulata) spawn! I'm going to be cultivating a giant beautiful (edible) mushroom!

With a big hole now in the dark side of the garden, I began to fill it with layers of fresh woodchips and oat straw, lasagna style. One layer of woodchips first, then a later of straw, then some spawn, and so on and so forth.

Here I'm adding woodchips over a finished layer of straw.

The straw had to be soaked in water for 3 days. That really hydrated it. It also allowed me to wait out a few days where temperatures dropped to near freezing again. I think I'm going to use the water I soaked the straw in, which is now dark green, as fertilizer. I will dilute it of course.

I had just the right amount of woodchips for the job. And now I can get a good shot in of my goji berries.
This mushroom patch must not be allowed to dry out! We've been getting lots of rain lately so I'm sure the mycelium has been busy spreading is hyphae into the straw, which is a quick food source as opposed to the wood. I should be able to see the first few mushrooms this summer and definitely more in the fall! We shall see what happens.

I've been experimenting more and more with perennial foods. The mushrooms I planted should grow every year and even spread. Maybe I'll get more than just one tiny stalk of asparagus this year. They say that can live in the bed for 25 years! It's been only a few years but I did wait until the day minute to plant those bare roots. Oops...

I think I've been taking good care of this perennial, my single blueberry. It needs a friend! I've surrounded it with pine needles to acidify the soil as they break down, just what the blueberry likes. I also feed it with a fertilizer specifically for acid loving plants that I found at an estate sale! I think it might flower so it will need some protection from critters soon.

Annuals

As for the annuals, I decided to try something new this year when starting them indoors.

Eggs!

I could see this being a fun project to do with children but I mostly found it tedious trying to put water in an egg filled with bone dry hydrophobic soil. The tomatoes should be fine but I'm not sure if the peppers will be able to bust out of an egg. They should be fine but I guess we'll see.

Out of my large collection of varieties of the common bean, I think this year we will plant: cranberry beans! (And perhaps Flor de Mayo/Junio, I don't know which one, they are basically the same pole bean as far as I'm concerned!) I also need to start some Kajari melon seeds and some more turban pumpkin seeds because why not?

And now it's starting to rain again!

Let me hide under the canopy of my giant wild rose bush! I leave you all now, but with a smile! There is much work to be done and I am behind! Oh! Must also plant lavender! Thanks for the reminder ;)

Good luck in your gardens! See you later! There will be more to see here in the not too distant future.