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a moose in the garden

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Something with big giant hoofs (hooves) trampled my garden.

Kaylie came into the house Saturday morning and said that someone had dug holes in the garden. I obviously panicked, and ran outside with her. As I was walking closer to the garden I thought maybe a dog had been digging in there, but when I got to the edge of the soil, I saw that nothing and no one had been digging. A big-hoofed thing had been in there trampling my cabbages and peppers.

I was confused as to why something with hoofs (hooves?) had been in my garden, but according to the Saskatoon Police, there were a couple moose in my neighbourhood early Saturday morning. Super.

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hoof print

Noah found this fact quite exciting. I should have made him replant the crushed plants.

I desperately needed to spend a few hours in the garden anyway, so I went out there and, square by square, weeded, replanted, and filled in hoof holes. It took quite a few hours, but it was therapeutic.

I still had a few things to plant (for the first time), and now only 10 square feet (out of 246) are left unplanted (on purpose)(I’m staggering the planting of a few things).

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grounds

I spent a couple hours in Starbucks on Friday night doing some design work in an interruption-free environment, and when I was leaving, I saw a bag of grounds by the garbage can with a sign on them saying, Free! Take me! Good for your garden! So I did. I’ve heard good things about coffee grounds, but I’ve never used them before.

I put them in the soil where I replanted some of Liliana’s peas, and some in with the spinach and lettuce I planted. I’m curious now if they will make a difference, and if so, how much. I do like to experiment, after all.

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kale

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rogue potato

I found a few rogue potato plants growing, but had to pull them up. Apparently a potato was divided by the rototiller and all the pieces started growing. I’d have let them keep growing, but they were in annoying places. I didn’t want them sucking the life out of the plants I’d planted around them.

And speaking of potatoes, I planted my potatoes this year the same way I did last year, since it worked so well. I covered them in poop. Liliana was very excited about the poop. She laid the potatoes out, one per square-foot, and I covered them with manure.

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Liliana the helper
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poop

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half covered
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covered

It took about 40kg of composted manure to cover nine potato plants. I might just have to add Room For a Cow to my list of dream home requirements, because, fresh milk! And manure!

Last week I put in the ground my peppers, pumpkins, and zucchinis, and a couple days ago my cucumbers. This is my first time planting seedlings that I grew indoors myself, so I’m hoping they do well. I covered the soil surrounding the zucchinis and pumpkins with newspaper and then mulch (Thanks, Jess!), in hopes to cut down even further on the weeds.

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freshly-planted zucchini
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step 1

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step 2
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step 3

I’m hoping it works, because I loathe weeding. In the oldest mulch, the stuff that was on the garden last year, there are barely any weeds. But in the new stuff, it doesn’t stop them as much. In a couple years when the mulch has broken down even more, it will cut down even more on the weeds. The soil sure is responding, though. It’s always soft and always full of moisture.

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peppers in tubes

I think I mentioned that I planted my hot pepper seeds in toilet paper tubes, as per a pin I saw last year. Just in case it’s a Pinterest fail, though, I have a few back-up seedlings in a proper pot.

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Kaylie planting her corn

When Kaylie asked me what I was planting this year and found out that corn wasn’t on the agenda, she was disappointed. I’d left open a couple squares, just in case, so I bought some corn and she helped me plant it. If my kid requests a vegetable be planted? I’m going to plant it.

I still have a couple squares left to fix after the moose, the main one being where I’ve been having problems with red ants. Maybe the moose crushed a bunch of ants? I sure hope so, the little buggers.


© Jen Wilson 2013. All rights reserved. | Originally published for jenwilson.ca as a moose in the garden.
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