Yum. Larrapin!

Sometimes even a wild and crazy gardener can feel daunted when seeing the task before them. As many regular readers know, veggie gardening 2009 at Larrapin was a turning point. The deer won. After the death of our old farm dog Shug, the deer, rabbit and raccoon moved in on our never-fenced garden like the proverbial chickens to the junebugs. Destruction, some subtle, some catastrophic, followed. We did get some great stuff (see photo above) out of the garden despite the intruders, nevertheless we began planning a fence. A big fence. On paper. But a tall deer fence in the front yard was too much for even a practicality-wins farmer type like myself.

The vegetables came to be in the ‘front yard’ because when we moved here, that was the only full-sun and level spot on the whole three acres. That was before the ice-storm (let’s put a positive spin on it) gave me additional options…  After fighting, and losing, to bambi and her friends for an entire summer, I made the decision. The Larrapin veggie garden had to move. Yes, I’m taking the fantastic soil in the raised beds I’ve worked on for four years and moving it downhill by about a hundred yards. Why?  Because that’s where the fence is!!

The former owner of this property raised emus—those tall dinosaur-like birds I find very scary. He jokingly offered to leave us one. No thanks! But I happily took the six-foot tall fenced paddock out back that he left behind!  It’s divided into three smaller areas, each about 30 x 70 feet or so. When we moved here it was all in deep shade. The ice-storm changed all that. Up till now this has been the territory of the happy Larrapin hens. And they are acting very territorial in giving up the center paddock for the future site of the veggie beds!  The girls, however, can be persuaded with oats, cracked corn and a locking gate though. So the spot is mine, for better or worse.

Now I’m no faint-of-heart gardener. After all we’d started with just canopy trees and bermuda grass on a scant 1-2 inches of topsoil over pallid, rocky clay, and in just three short years had loads of flowers and shrubs and young trees and lots of delicious vegetables. (You can see that transformation here.) Still, to look out on a cold winter day at the task before me, see below, can give even a braveheart pause…

Under those logs, that's the spot...

Under those logs, that's the spot...

The funny part is that I can envision, in perfect detail, a lush raised-bed garden filled with green beans dripping off the vines, corn rustling in the wind, a glowing red tomato peeking out here and there. And soil! I can imagine pushing back the straw mulch and seeing dark, well-drained garden loam brimming with earthworms and organic matter…. Such is the power of my imagination!

My eyes and hands, however, are more realistic. I’m starting (over) with a hilltop slab of abysmal soil, chock full o’rocks. How many rocks?  From the 4 x 20 section I’ve started digging, I’ve toted away 50 gallons of rocks, one five-gallon bucket at a time. And oh yeah, there’s apparently a logging operation going on there. Nah, not really on the last part. That’s just an enormous wild cherry that was broken to bits in the ice storm and was taken down over the winter along with one other ice-storm ruined tree. I did have to sacrifice a smaller oak to get this spot fully in sun. And for that, I’ll do my oak-planting penance times three…

So this is my mission, should I choose to accept it. And I have!! Hopefully, a year from now, I’ll be posting pictures of the beginnings of that wonderful vegetable garden I can see in my mind. For now, a blank slate. One that looks better covered in snow, I must admit. But have faith, dear readers. Let’s see what gals with shovels and an old red tiller can do! Check back in a year!

Partially cleared of logs, with snow in early January

Partially cleared of logs, with snow in early January

Thanks for dropping by Larrapin Garden. If you drop by in person, you might be put to work!

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