June garden updates from Albany, NY

[rebeccmeister]

(updated and cross-posted from my blog)

My newest mulch pile:


I only recently got a wood chipper, and I am so happy to be able to mulch small branches at home now!

Lovely little flowers on the French lavender:



I have a dahlia I call the Dark Dahlia, which is behind the lavender, under some rhubarb leaves, just starting to come up. This is most exciting because I wasn't sure if I got it out of the ground in time last fall/winter.

The wine barrel tomato plants are getting much bigger, and have some flowers going:


Some of the ripe strawberries (while walking my cat Martha):


Yummy strawberry-arugula salad! Needed more strawberries. Next time.

Comments

[timespirt]

Cool.

[luna_moon]

That salad looks really yummy! :3

[mellowtigger]

I didn't know that wood chippers came in small sizes? I'll look into that possibility here. I keep my wood until it's fully dry, then I burn it in a fire pit. Chipping seems like a better choice.

[rebeccmeister]

Good home use wood chippers are tricky to find! My brother did some hunting to find the model he settled on; my sister and I both got the same model, based on my brother's experience. It's the SunJoe 603E. My sister had the SunJoe 601E previously, but it did not hold up for long-term use.

When I went to buy one, they were listed as out of stock on SunJoe's website. I wound up buying one on FleaBay for a marked-up price. I'm not happy about or proud of how much I paid for it, but on the other hand, I am SO HAPPY to finally be able to mulch at home! More carbon back in the soil, less in the atmosphere!

[rebeccmeister]

Also note that this one only accepts wood pieces up to 1.5" in diameter...at the moment I'm just accumulating larger stuff. I might turn the bigger stuff over to the city for pickup, since the city has the industrial-size mulchers for their industrial-scale operation.

[brightly_lit]

I also have a SunJoe woodchipper, and I love mine, too! I need to bust it out again this summer and get some chips for my garden walkways. Lovely post!