Gardeners Dream of Long, Slow Rains Like This. The Garden Is a Local Area Netgwork (LAN)

 Gardening is contagious. 
Here are some KnockOut roses.
My neighbor has a wonderful nursery - Almost Eden.

Last night began a long, slow rain that should last all day. A large front is moving up from the Gulf of Mexico, through Texas, and traveling onto the Midwest, ending on the East Coast.

These weather systems help us realize how water gathered by a single dam can become a threat to hundreds of thousands of people - like the crisis at the Oroville Dam in California. In 2005, various groups filed petitions to have the earthen spillways made into concrete because of the danger of erosion, now happening as predicted.

Meanwhile, the rain is slowly soaking into our clay soil, which turns whiter as it dries out. Our rose canes are greening up and leafing out for Valentine's Day, a February to remember.

I love these rainy days because God is doing so much work with billions of creatures in the soil. Microscopic, beneficial fungal strands are connecting the most elaborate Local Area Network (LAN) anyone can imagine. In fact, no human expected anything so complicated a few years ago. There it was, under our feet.

Fungus tunnels through the soil, finer than human hair, seeking whom it may devour - wood chips, decaying animals, anything organic. The tip of the fungus has enormous power to penetrate wood and chemicals to dissolve and absorb the nutrition. What really astonishes me are the proteins used by the fungus to move chemicals through its skin. No moving parts - this fungus is not even certified as a plant. Nevertheless, the Creating Word designed fungus to use proteins specific for each kind of chemical transport.

 The leaves, mulch, and dead wood clumps
are now a much larger pyramid of fungus, earthworm,
and soil food.
Their work feeds the Crepe Myrtle bush above.

The fungus is worried and anxious about many things, taking from various organic sources and serving multiple plants at once in this elaborate, microscopic, self-regulating LAN. If roots need more water, the fungus can deliver. When the plants demand prepared, ready-to-use nutrition, the fungus acts upon the chemical request. But one thing is needful - carbon. The fungus cannot manufactures its own carbon, so it must beg from the plant roots.

 Months of showy Crepe Myrtle blooms
come from an autumn and winter of feeding the soil
through organic materials processed by God's creatures.

The roots are devious, because they must have what the fungus can deliver, so they give up spare carbon to keep the fungus alive and growing. Some plants can live without this fungal support around them and in them, but most achieve their best results teaming with fungus, as Jeff Lowenfels has described in a series of books.

Who created and engineered these teams to work together so well? When like-minded and cooperative humans decide to build a church or add onto their building, experts assume that this task will take two years and end up with mistakes, conflicts, finger-pointing, and regrets - even on dedication day. But these microscopic parts of God's Creation build and maintain this living LAN, which repairs itself when needed.

If Mr. Gardener gets a rototiller for Father's Day, conveniently in June, he cannot wait to tear through his future garden, flinging fungal strands everywhere, destroying earthworms, disturbing the layers of soil. As soon as he retires inside to clean up and congratulate himself, the fungal strands begin rebuilding the LAN and supporting all life, above and beneath. With luck, the belt will break on the rototiller and life will be peaceful for several weeks.

The rain is essential for this building of the soil, since all life requires hydration. But rain is the best kind, feeding all life at once and adding a gentle and natural fertilizer in the form of nitrogen compounds. Soil life goes into overdrive, because the microscopic networks expand to recycle the population explosion around them - bugs hatching, earthworms moving and dying, plant debris decaying on top of the soil, roots tunneling and dying.

The melting snow and falling rain always have an effect. The Spirit teaches this in the Word and Creation illustrates this truth from the beginning of time - God spoke the Word - Let there be light - and there was light.

Gardening and Reading - Fun Things I Learned the Last Few Years

Every post on gardening - and most other subjects - means I am reading information from books, magazines, or the Net to support claims or fill in gaps of information. Below are some things that struck me as new, unusual, or essential to know, in spite of gardening and reading about the subject for the last 35 years, starting in Midland, Michigan.

Giant Weed Is Creation Gardening Dream Plant
Pokeweed annoyed me with its gigantic growth everywhere. On the Net and in books I learned - birds and mammals love the berries, and beneficial insects flock to the flowers. Now I admire my healthy, growing, blooming and fruiting Pokeweed.

Crabgrass Is a Grain
Crabgrass spreads because it is a grain plant brought over in the early days. As they say, it got loose. It is easily controlled with mowing - or even better - mulching over it to create compost.

"I don't digest? Then why are you selling my manure,
you heartless capitalist! You exploit the poor for your
profits, your luxuries. Bacteria do the digesting?
Pardon me."

Earthworms Do Not Digest Food
I am the Johnie Appleseed of red wigglers, but they do not digest the food they eat. Bacteria in their gut break down the food and make it available for plants. Bonus fact - slugs and earthworms share the same task, shredding food so it can decompose.

Spiders without Webs
The spiders in a yard may destroy more insect pests than any other beneficial creature. Many of them work without nets, running along and snagging their food - cursorial spiders. Observation - many perfect roses are found with a thick spider's net at the bottom of the flowering part.

Treat a Plant Like a Princess
I knew about Crepe Myrtle and had one struggling near our mail box. When I put extra mulch, lawnmower droppings, leaves, or mushroom compost underneath, the soil food disappeared rapidly and the flowers began to change from boring to wow. I spent a lot of time removing lower branches to give it the Lyle Lovett look, so now we have pink fireworks on top for months. Pruning some of those flowers renewed the blooming all over. Bonus fact - Cardinals love CM seeds, and I now have a pair nesting there.

Squirrels Are Like Bears
Neat holes in the mulch are probably from squirrels digging for earthworms and grubs. Almost Eden told me - they are like bears, eating anything. Bonus fact - mama squirrel kicks the babies out of the nest rather early, so that is why I have baby squirrels eating sunflower seeds from the bird feeders.

Chaste Tree Forehead Slapper
I knew how great the Chaste Tree bush was for bees, but I grew one in a shady area and watered it diligently. The plant looked so bad I researched CT care on the Net. Errors:

1. Never water a Chaste Tree.
2. Always plant it in the sun.
3. Prune it as much as desired.

I dug it up, planted it in the sun, pruned every branch somewhat, refused to water it, and saw it perk up and sprout healthy leaves.

Foundational Mistake - Jeff Lowenfels
In the olden days, every gardening book emphasized having a healthy supply of earthworms in the soil as the basis for fertile, lively plants. Wrong! The real foundation is microbial, with fungus doing a surprising amount of decomposition, movement of nutrition to plant hairs, and disease control. Therefore, moving the soil around unnecessarily is a big mistake.  Earthworms are the proof of a healthy microbial foundation - fungus, bacteria, protozoa, nematodes, all eating and being eaten - but with fungus feeding desired products to the root hairs in exchange for carbon from the plant.

Aphids love white and Peace roses.
Therefore, they attract beneficial insects and feed them.

KnockOut Roses Not Like Any Other
KnockOut roses are popular but treated badly. As disease resistant shrubs, KOs are packed with growth energy when mulched and watered. Based on several years experience - they respond with delight to heavy pruning - as much as 50% - and regain the lost height by growing and blooming all over again. Too much heat and wilted flower? - prune heavily. Too much rain  and droopy bushes - prune 50% and watch them sprout 50 blooms each.

Walliser Dictum - The Pests Are Food for Pest Predators - Backed by Sharon Lovejoy
Nothing makes us go crazier than aphids destroying rose blooms. No man-made cure works. Hosing them off? Haha. Pesticides? - sure, kill all the spiders too. The first attack will generate a response team that usually lays eggs that hatch into aphid eating monsters,  creatures which mature into egg-laying beneficials that... Jessica Walliser and Sharon Lovejoy write about this phenomenon. My white and Peace roses are trashed by aphids on the first bloom, then almost perfect the rest of the season.

One of the greatest rose hybridizers
gave us Chrysler Imperial and Queen Elizabeth roses.
A PhD, he was a Creationist.

Tiny Flowers Are Good Flowers
The beneficial insects that eat pests are tiny - not just the cute little Ladybugs. Because most of the adults need flower or pollen or both, any plant with tiny flowers will help the beneficial insect population. A constant bloom of tiny flowers will create a yard where the beneficials can wait for the cry of stricken plants. That may come from extra nectar being released, hormones, or maybe the sound of sipping and crunching from the pests. Therefore, I want:

1. Mints
2. Sunflowers
3. Queen Ann's Lace
4. Clover
5. Carrot family plants, and
6. Those little colorful plants that bloom in the grass for a short time.

 Mountain Mint - tiny flowers.
Many overlooked and unknown flowers are
the perfect medicine for gardening, attracting beneficial insects
and supporting other life in the garden.

Moles Are Good Soil Mixers
Every spring the gardeners share their hatred of moles with each other. I already knew they could not be killed. Secondly, I learned their annoying food tunnels, that alarm us in the spring, are difficult to trace later in the summer. Most importantly, since moles will never go away - they are superb soil mixers, like giant subway tunnel borers in comparison with earthworms, one of their favorite foods. The underground swimming of moles opens up the soil and creates room for new earthworms to take over. When moles establish storage places for earthworms - up to 1200 at a time - they are making sure more nitrogen is placed in that area.

 Queen Elizabeth Rose - developed by Lammaerts,
designed by the Creating Word.

Heard from Three Gardening Gurus at Once - Mulch Is Modular and Fun To Use. Saving Planet Earth So You Don't Have To

Yesterday I heard from my favorite gardening gurus at the same time. The three are:

• Jessica Walliser - Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden
• Jeff Lowenfels - Teaming with Microbes - Soil
• Sharon Lovejoy - A Blessing of Toads - The Big Picture

Sharon Lovejoy seemed surprised that I discovered her Blessing of Toads at  Cracker Barrel. All three chimed in with a like or a comment.

As I wrote before, these three books are essential for a Creation Garden, with far less work and cost, far more enjoyment and production. We had a brief spell where all the roses were waiting to bloom or just finished. 

For the KnockOuts, I pruned 50% of the bush. For the rest, I looked for dead wood, crossed canes, and unhealthy looking canes. The Jackson Rose Farm looked like a vast mulch display with little color. With some rain and watering, the roses took off again.The KOs are bursting with buds and blooms. The rest of the roses are either in full bloom, looking for some pruning, or ready to bloom he first time.

Strangely enough for some readers, the Maple Tree Rose Garden, which merged with the main rose area, is thriving with $5 roses in bloom - around 20 in all. Common sense says - 

1. Do not plant among maple tree roots.
2. Do not make roses compete with greedy maple roots.
3. Do not plant roses where there is more shade.
4. Do not even think about digging under a maple.

I made the case with Mrs. Ichabod and lost, but I am glad. Our helper and I actually dug roses in between lumps of roots. Those roses get plenty of sun in the morning, another sunbath in the afternoon. The ones most in the shade are slower, but they also bloom.

The key argument is - "I want to see the roses." The most visible flowers are going to  be enjoyed more - and our neighborhood loves them. The ones we pass every day will also get the most attention. Roses do not need a lot of work in the Creation Garden, but they need regular attention with their need for water and pruning.

Before I had any $5 roses to plant, I threw 10 bags of mushroom compost in the area where I hoped to plant something else. I covered the entire area with shredded mulch, added some garlic bulbs, and sprinkled red wiggler earthworms on top. That was in the autumn. At the worst, it was far better looking than what we inherited, an area packed with maple suckers, weeds, and broken toys.

Modular Mulch

The various weeds are pushing their way through the wood mulch. I can only blame the superfertile soil for that. Mulch builds the fungi network that Lowenfels describes so well. Earthworms and all soil creatures thrive with mulch. Besides those benefits, mulch conserves water and topsoil.

Weed seeds blow in and come up from below. Birds deposit them with fertilizer the natural way. Like any enemy, weeds find the weak spots and attack.

Mulch is modular. We do not need to re-mulch the entire garden. Instead, we:

1. Look for weed patches.
2. Cover them with cardboard or newspaper.
3. Hold down the shade layer with shredded cyprus mulch - or water jugs in the back.

In the Wild Garden we used 60+ bags of autumn leaves to hold down the cardboard. That worked so well that hardly anything grew on top of the mulch. When I lifted the  cardboard, unmoved for six+ months, the former lawn was soft composted soil, easily dug, earthworm packed.

I have a new supply of cardboard and wood mulch for the areas that want to be weedy. The weeds are great ingredients for compost. Why pull them up and compost them? They are more useful when they rot there, feeding billions of soil creatures and feeding the plants I want to thrive.

Helianthus is a permanent sunflower plant,
which I want, because the squirrels eat every sunflower seed I plant.

Bill Still Moving Through - Studying Ahead for Beneficial Insect Results

The Jackson Rose Farm has many places and levels to feed, many types of foods and seeds.
The squirrels do not monopolize the food or tear up the bird feeder.

Mrs. Ichabod had a routine test yesterday, so I brought the beneficial insects book in to the waiting room. I used to bring in Teaming with Microbes, but I gave the printed version to a our nursery owner neighbor, at Almost Eden.

Beneficial insects are endlessly fascinating because of their relationships to other creatures and various flowers.

Rain has prevented anything except feeding the birds, which made me very popular just before the storm broke. We had Bill on radar and saw the storm slowly circling and moving toward NW Arkansas. Sassy and I took a walk and she hurried inside to beat the rain. The drizzle - more of a misty - was already falling. I went to the backyard to scatter the combination bird seed I mixed in the pail. Bird sounds increased immediately while I was putting seed in various places to let everyone have some food before the storm.

I went inside and opened the window by the bird feeder. We watched the birds feeding and listened to their sounds as they fussed, chortled, and broadcast the meal being served. The little ones favor the finch feeder while the larger ones use the platform and the window ledge. Behind them the rain was starting to fall. The backyard looked like a very large shower room with the hot water left on.

Walliser and her book - essential for gardening and fun to read.

So I looked through the Jessica Walliser book to see what could be done to make our yard even friendlier to beneficial insects.

Part of my job as co-host of a radio program called The Organic Gardeners is to answer questions from callers about how to get rid of bugs. This never used to be a problem for me; I would tell the caller what organic product to spray to get rid of the perceived pest, and that would be that. But now that I am a confessed bug lover it’s a different story, and I struggle to find a balance. I want to go into a long, involved elucidation of how callers are gardening wrong and how they need to appreciate their bugs and how everything is connected, but if I did they would probably hang up on me. I hear the “just tell me what to spray” tone in their voice. So instead of giving a lecture, I tell them not to panic. Seldom does an insect actually kill a plant in a garden setting. Yes, the plant might not look so good for a while, but the chances of its survival are excellent.

Walliser, Jessica (2014-02-26). Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control (Kindle Locations 1712-1718). Timber Press. Kindle Edition. 

I never went through that phase of giving up chemical solutions, rototillers, and finding joy in organic gardening. Instead, I trusted in the beneficial bugs from the start. I grew up with my mother capturing bugs and showing us interesting features. I read every organic gardening book I could find and went through the children's library to read those gardening and nature books too.

When my future wife and I were dating in college, we often found moths in the fridge at home, or perhaps on the curtains if the newly hatched escaped. My mother photographed them for magazines and wrote about them. She knew moths and butterflies, too.

The trouble with an urban living (compared to the farm) is having all the experiences with insects indoors, where bugs are annoying vermin. Outside, insects and the other creatures keep each other controlled, so there is a constant dynamic that is fun to watch. The insects will do some harm, but they are limited by the creatures that prey upon them.

The landscape complexity Paula Shrewsbury champions is essential to encouraging your good bugs. You don’t have to rip up every inch of lawn (but if you really want to, go right ahead), nor do you have to change everything about your existing garden. “A lot of home landscapes already have some diversity as far as trees and shrubs are concerned, but when you add more, look to diversify those plant species,” she advises. She suggests these three steps to creating a beneficials-friendly landscape: first, choose plants that thrive in your climate; second, select plants known to support natural enemies....

Walliser, Jessica (2014-02-26). Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control (Kindle Locations 1760-1764). Timber Press. Kindle Edition. 

Queen Anne's Lace has a milder cousin, called Lace Flower, which Walliser likes more.
I looked for Lace Flower photos and got Queen Ann's Lace each time.
Erase the bug (or spot of blood) on this and you have - Lace Flower.
Beneficial insects are crazy for the tiny flowers of the carrot family.

Flowers and Weeds for Beneficial Insects 
Many common flowers and weeds are overlooked as favorite hang-outs for insects. The early blooming weeds provide initial pollen and nectar for bees and insects that prey upon pests. The pest eaters - or parasitizing egg-layers - often need nectar and pollen for themselves, if not as their main food, then at other times when fresh prey is not abundant.

I look at the low-lying, spreading weeds in the grass as early bee feeders. They are all quite attractive on their own. Other plants are simply not ready to bloom and provide harbors for the insects at the first sign of spring.

Roses were blooming and feeding bees very early, but Queen Ann's Lace and borage flowered much later.

My friends tell me the Chaste Tree, a new plant to me, is wildly popular with bees and insects.

Coreopsis - everyone has heard the name, but how many grow it?
Beneficial insects love coreopsis.

Easy to grow Coreopsis (tick-seed) is a great plant for beneficial insects.

Sunflowers are good for many insects and fun to watch grow.

Bee Balm or Horse Mint is also Oswego Tea and Beramot.
Nevertheless, insects, butterflies, and hummingbirds like it.

Bee Balm (horse mint) is a robust plant that many insects love and rumored to be a hummingbird favorite as well.

Queen Ann's Lace is one of many carrot family plants with tiny flowers for tiny insects. Not every insect can feed from every flower, and many of the best beneficial insects love this family of plants, including dill and parsley. I just bought Lace Flower, which is the genteel version of Queen Ann's Lace. Walliser impugned Queen Ann's Lace, associating it with highways and semis roaring by, so I told her I got my supply at the Lowe's empty lot, where the semis are parked. She responded favorably on Facebook.

This is the best overall gardening book, giving a great wholistic view of
the creatures and flowers working together in God's Creation.

Behind these fingers - Sharon Lovejoy.
Gardening is a dirty job but fun and relaxing.

This is the best bird identification book I have found.

Readers can FB friend and chat with my two favorite gardening writers on Facebook. They are:

Sharon Lovejoy

Jessical Walliser.

I often drop in a comment if their posts are related to what I am doing - and they usually are.

A kiddie pool with short sides is perfect for these clowns.
They splash, fuss, and have a great time.
They earn their food by eating insects and grubs.
Those beaks are perfect for grubbing.
Grackles are a larger version - not much for singing, but very smart.

Beneficial Birds
All birds are beneficial, especially those who never win popularity contests - crows, starlings, and grackles.

When I step into the backyard, a dozen or more birds launch into the air - every time. But often they feed a few feet from me, because I am no threat but a reliable food source.

The main benefit birds seek is a plenty of bathing space. When I opened the Community Pool for the birds, with a spare in the Wild Garden, birds were wary. Now the kiddie pool is filthy on the bottom, testimony to the crud washed off their feathers each day.

A rainstorm should bathe all the birds, right? They can perch on a limb, get a shower, shake it off and preen. But after every storm here I find birds in the street puddles, having joyous baths, even as cars drive by.

This morning the birds are interested in feeding, after using up so many calories staying warm. The platform feeder is seldom level, because the squirrels climb into it or land on it for food. The birds then feed at an absurd angle, but without complaint. Some seed gets dumped on the ground, so the ground feeders have a party in the garden.

All the birds feed from the mulch and lawn and garden. A large group of birds think of the Jackson Rose Farm as their favorite place to feed and bathe.

Grackles rock the metallic colors in sunlight, with those yellow eyes for contrast.
I swear the grackles have a special gleam in their eyes when they
snag a nut from the bird feeder and depart.

Lowenfels always poses with a clown nose on.

Converts
We were typical suburban gardeners. Each year, at the beginning of the growing season, we carpet bombed our lawns with a mega-dose of water-soluble, high-nitrogen fertilizer and watered like crazy; then we strafed their weeds with a popular broadleaf herbicide. Next, we attacked our vegetable gardens and flower beds with a bag or two of commercial fertilizer and leveled them with a rototiller until the soil, the color and texture of finely ground coffee, lay as smooth and level as the Bonneville Salt Flats. These things we did religiously, as did most of our neighbors. Once was never enough either. We continued to use chemical fertilizers throughout the season as if we were competing in the large-vegetable contest at the Alaska State Fair— and at the end of the season we rototilled again, for some inexplicable reason. 

When necessary (and it often was), we would suit up into protective clothing— complete with rubber gloves and a face mask— and paint our birches to protect them from invading aphids by using some god-awful smelling stuff that listed ingredients no normal person could pronounce, assuming he or she took the time to read the incredibly small print on the chemical’s label. Then we sprayed our spruce trees with something that smelled even worse— something so strong, one application lasted not one but two years. It was a good thing we did protect ourselves, as both spray products are now off the market, withdrawn as health hazards.

Lewis, Wayne;  Lowenfels, Jeff; (2010-09-10). Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition (Kindle Locations 73-84). Timber Press. Kindle Edition. 

Wayne Lewis is a lifelong Alaskan gardener. He has worked with Jeff on many projects over the past 25 years, including the now national Plant a Row for the Hungry program (started in Anchorage by Jeff), which encourages gardeners to donate a portion of their harvest to charitable organizations in their community.

Plants Stack Up Like Planes at O'Hare as Another Rainstorm Blows In

Just as General Patton paid attention to the Army Air Force and rewarded them,
so I reward the air fleet of the Jackson Rose Gardens.

I anticipated catching up on planting this morning, but Mrs. I said, "Have you looked outside?" I went out to deliver the paper to our neighbor (tossing it to his door). Sassy did not follow me out the front door, so she knew the weather report. The rain was falling down steadily.

On the positive side, the ground will be soft for some digging in the afternoon. When clay soil is a bit dry and bound up with grass roots, digging it is like trying to turn over soil in a parking lot. I left some sod upside down from before and chopped it into submission a day or two later. When I cannot break up sod and put it back where I am planting, I scoop mushroom compost into the hole instead and put upside down sod around the plant - to hold it in place and decompose. This has worked well for roses and raspberry canes.

These steady rains are ideal for the new plants and the revived roses from last year. As the book Plants Are Like People noted, plants love a good bath too, just like us. The rose experts told me that I should dampen the new roses daily when planting them in Phoenix. The hot drying winds were likely to dry them out before they could get a new start.

The straw bales give evidence about why the rains are so important. Mushrooms are blooming on the bales - all over. The expert said to expect and welcome this. Mushrooms are the fruit of the fungus, so the fungi are busy underneath the surface of the bales, just as they are in the soil.

Teaming with Nutrients is the companion volume

Microbial Partners 
Plants can also enlist microbial partners to move nutrients to their roots. To initiate these partnerships, roots exude lipids and carbon-based molecules into the soil. These materials, which are produced by organelles in the roots cells, cross through the double-layered cellular membranes and move through the cell walls and out into the soil immediately surrounding the roots. Here in the rhizosphere, the increase of carbon, together with the carbon in mucilage and dead root tip cells, attracts bacteria and fungi and helps sustain populations near the root surfaces. For example, Rhizobia and Frankia are nitrogen-fixing bacteria that form relationships with legumes. 

Mycorrhizal fungi form a symbiotic relationship with plants and get carbon directly from roots, ensuring a supply by providing the plant with nutrients. These fungi literally go out from the plant root hairs and obtain nutrients the roots cannot, both because of the inability of the larger root to fit into tiny pore spaces and the inability of the root to grow the length required. The long hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi help plants obtain nutrients and water. In return, the fungus receives exudates from the plant.

Lowenfels, Jeff; (2013-05-07). Teaming with Nutrients: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to Optimizing Plant Nutrition (Kindle Locations 2154-2157). Timber Press. Kindle Edition.

All gardeners used to look at rain and plants from an elementary school level. "Sun is good. Rain is good. Plants grow. Look, Sally, look. Run, run, run." Anyone can still garden at that level, but knowing what makes this work together is going to increase the harvest and decrease the labor involved.

Sunny Garden
Last year the sunny garden featured some tomatoes planted late and a rich harvest of ragweed growing through the wood mulch (no newspaper). Relax, that was an experiment to see how wood mulch alone worked as a weed barrier. Simply placing newspaper on the bottom was the best discovery since Hershey added milk to chocolate.

I admit not being the first to use newspapers plus wood mulch, but I take credit for testing the alternatives, including newspapers weighed down (alas, only for a time) with leaves. Newspapers and leaves soak up water fast but they also evaporate quickly and blow with the wind.

This year, straw bales sit on the wood mulch and ragweed remains, with a layer of newspapers beneath to block weed growth. The straw bales are growing strawberries and potatoes primarily, but also some gourds and other plants.

The steady rain is enhancing the production of the the straw bales, which at the worst can create a pile of compost for the future.

Sunny Garden Additions
The sunny garden was just the neglected corner of the yard, but now area will also host some cherry tomatoes, a rhubarb plant, raspberry canes, and some bargain roses ($5 a bush).

Before last summer, that part of the yard was simply a place to mow and trim weeds. The bulk of the work was simply placing Jackson mulch for the winter, bales of straw in the late winter (which I thought was spring). The snow helped the straw start to rot before I could think of planting in it.

When my neighbor had two wheelbarrows of fine, aged autumn leaves, I took them as additional mulch for the sunny garden. When complete the sunny garden should have a row of bargain roses on the left, so Mrs. Wright can cut them any time, a row of straw bales for food and flowers, and a fence area for cherry tomatoes.

The conversion is very low in cost, both labor and money, because everything is based on Creation - soil microbes and creatures building healthy soil for vigorous plants, without sprays or inorganic fertilizers.

Darwin had trouble with wasps parasitizing pests,
so he turned from Creation to evolution.