LOCAL. SEASONAL. SUSTAINABLE.

LOCAL. SEASONAL. SUSTAINABLE.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Really? Still?

It's the end of May and the temperature may reach 54 degrees today amid showers. And tomorrow maybe as high as 51 with more showers and possibly some hail. Luckily most of the plants don't seem to mind. Here are a couple of super achievers doing their thing.

Lovely Wisteria on my next door neighbors house.









Hops on my porch, rapidly creating a shady haven from the sweltering days that still seem so far off.






Even the tomatoes and peppers, who most crave the heat and sunlight, don't seem to be suffering much. They aren't making a lot of progress, but they look pretty good. Some of them even have tiny blossoms. And the currants have already set their fruit.

The cedar shavings around the plants are my favorite mulching material. It keeps the soil from caking rock hard, helps retain moisture, which isn't currently a problem, but hopefully will be sometime soon. And the cedar smells nice. It is usually sold as animal bedding and is really inexpensive. I got 11 cubic feet for less than $10, and that covers almost all of my planted areas. And it breaks down adding organic matter to the soil.

3 comments:

Jean Christofferson said...

I am glad to learn that cedar shavings are ok to use as mulch. I have so e that got damp so I don't want to use them for the chickens.

Jean Christofferson said...

I am glad to learn that cedar shavings are ok to use as mulch. I have some that got damp so I don't want to use the. For the chickens but didn't know if they were ok as mu,ch.

pdxlisa said...

Yeah, cedar is great and I forgot to mention mulching helps keeps weeds down and I found some claims that the strong scent of cedar helps deter some insects.