Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Gardening Season in the Willamette Valley

             I could never move to Hawaii because I would get "Seasonal Defective Disorder." It's a disorder brought on by a lack of distinct seasons. At least here in the Willamette Valley we have 4 distinct seasons: spring rain, summer rain, fall rain, and winter rain. Right now we are in the midst of spring rain with occasional periods of no rain or little rain. In fact we've been able to get out into the garden on the no-rain /little-rain days and actually till up the soil for planting.  Of course the "we"means my husband,
 daughter and son, the gardening aficionados around here.

             So far we have potatoes, onions, beans, tomatillos, tomatoes, basil, carrots, broccoli, spinach, artichokes, horseradish, asparagus, and garlic planted and I am starting to anticipate making fresh salsa and helping my hubby can jars of  salsa verde, marinara sauce, and load up the freezer with homemade pesto....yum!

             I am also anticipating endless weeding and hoeing not only in the vegetable garden but in the flower beds as well. Fortunately, most of those chores have been contracted out to our own private labor force, our kids, who will be "earning their keep" as my husband likes to say. There are four of them currently on the labor force and I figure an hour a day of weeding and hoeing, should be enough to hold the weeds at bay and make the chief gardener happy. Watering is another chore that will have to be done eventually...not likely very soon. Did I mention that it rains a lot here?

   

2 comments:

  1. Am impressed that you have so much planted already! I planted this time last year and because of the RAIN, I lost 2/3 of it. So this year, I'm waiting...

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  2. We shall see. All the little plants enjoyed the sun today I'm sure. Tomorrow, more of the same...but then...I hear the R word is going to occur again on the weekend.

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