resourcefulness

The corn has picked up considerably. I noticed on Wednesday that those ears no longer look heat-stressed (ironically, I put up the pictures showing it on the day after). I finished the tilthing on that bed's paths and planted two cucurbits beneath the end rows of corn. That way, when we water them, we'll be giving more attention to those end corns as well.

There are worms in the garden. Even the hardened, compacted soils that I have managed to break up are teeming with worms. I get one every handful, practically. Okay, I no longer have any fear about worms reaching a compost bed in the Garden.

Last Friday, I used the special irrigation head Dave found to water the first apple tree. Well, I'd thought to let it do its thing for an hour or two, then come back and transition it to the next tree...

When I came back, the whole area was flooded. Luckily, most of it had drained off into the "pond", but I now have no doubt that the sheet-mulching is on its way to decomposition. I turned off the sprinkler and stood there for a moment, then I started laughing. Oh, it was perfect! I stacked all the cardboard that will later be used for sheetmulching in the pond, submerging it. Now the cardboard will absorb the water and become supple and soft. The entire area over there - save for the oakleaves or woodchips - is finished.

"The Stubborn Bed", located two down from "the Stupid Bed", is now finished as well. After two days of tilthing and rediscovering my scoliosis - man, I need to keep practicing Yoga! - the bed is aerated down one fork's depth. When Mosey came yesterday, I was just finishing. She had the crowning glory of seeding it with buckwheat before we covered it with remae and watered it in.

Steve taught me how to prune tomatoes on Thursday morning, before he departed. As he was going from the garden, he turned to me with a sort of twinkle in his eyes and told me we'd really get things going when he got back. Steve is, truly, a special person.