Garden Design

The husband and I had a meeting over breakfast yesterday morning to discuss the upcoming farming season. We decided to take a year off from doing pigs. I am not busted up about that given all the processor problems we had last year.

The big project this year is going to be rebuilding the herb garden. It sat all last year covered in billboard tarp to kill everything underneath. It also doubled in size because the husband took down the fencing between the herb garden and the old vegetable garden. The plan is to put down some kind of weed barrier, install raised beds, and put gravel around them. The old herb garden had beds edged in logs with gravel paths. I really liked that design, but over the years, the logs rotted and weeds grew up through the gravel and it became an overgrown wilderness. Also, I am not as young and flexible as I used to be. I do enough crawling around on the ground in the big garden; I like the idea of raised beds in the herb garden so I don’t have to bend over so much. The garden space will also be big enough to have some seating and a birdbath.

The trick is going to be maintaining control of this project. The husband is sometimes very much his mother’s son. My MIL, whom I loved very much, was a master gardener. She was also a bit of a steamroller and had a tendency to take over and implement her ideas over objections. The husband began voicing opinions about the herb garden design during our discussion and I had to remind him that I have a vision of what I want.

Our relationship has too many generals and not enough foot soldiers. 🤪

It will get done. We need to go out and do some measuring and sketching soon. I mostly want to get the infrastructure in place. The actual planting can happen at a more leisurely pace.

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I finished the Malva Tee:

The fabric is a Walmart remnant. I suspect it’s a rayon/poly blend because it was a bit of a pain to hem on the coverstitch machine. Some fabrics go through like butter; this one had all sorts of issues. Double-brushed poly tends to be that way, too.

The baby quilt has been bound and will be sent off this week. I printed the Portsmith Tote pattern and pulled fabric for it. I’ve got two podcast interviews scheduled for this week, one of which involves a trip to Missoula. I’m also giving the sermon next Sunday, and that has to be written. The weather forecast is for cold and rain this week before warming up into the mid-50s next week, and the greenhouse needs to be ready for planting when the weather improves. I have no shortage of projects on the to-do list.

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I watched a wonderful documentary the other day called Nancy Zieman: Extraordinary Grace, produced by Wisconsin Public Television in 2020. I had read her autobiography, Seams Extraordinary, a few years ago. She truly was a pioneer in the sewing industry, having launched the first TV sewing program. And those episodes are timeless.