Gardening Calendars and Brown Grass

My grass is brown and crunchy. I'm mildly embarrassed about it, but not enough to waste the environmental resource to water it. I wonder if I should start a rain barrel. You can attach them to your gutters now. I could use the rain water to irrigate the garden in the summer. The chickens could probably drink it, too.

The chickens. Yeah. That'll have to been next Spring. Unless I can get a gate made for the chicken run. It's hard enough to water the garden and pick produce before it goes bad. The gate is on temporary back burner status.

I've been traveling this past week, had a festival to attend the weekend before that, and the weekend before that I went camping at the Country Fair. Needless to say, my garden is looking a little ragged. Weeds, you know.

I'm recovering from travel this week, and catching up on some work, and there is a slight chance that I might spend this weekend on a house boat. So, garden work still seems grim. I have managed to have the dog sitter to water the garden while I've been gone, and Ali did it while I was gone this past week. The garden is therefore alive, but that's all. It's not thriving, if you know what I mean.

I think what happened was this: I direct-planted seeds, some too late in the season, and then didn't thin the plants when they came up. The result: small, stunted plants that have bolted already. I need to just plant some more plants. I can still get starts from the Farmer's Market probably. I'll pull out the spinach, broccoli, and lettuce. Thin the carrots, move the cucumbers, and hope for the best.

The plums are all in, ripening swiftly. I'd love to borrow a food dehydrator and dry them.

My indoor plants are suffering. I forget I need to water them more in the summer. I repotted them in the Spring, but one in particular is not doing well at all, and I killed the fern. I love ferns -- so lacy and green. And they seem so hardy, but I've killed every single fern I've ever purchased.

Once again I am RESOLVED to follow the Month by Month Gardening Book for Oregon. Also, this website has a great gardening calendar for Oregon.