March 30, 2009

Slow but growing

No new plantings this week. Here are a few updated pictures...

Cauliflower

Turnips


Spinach


~Y

March 23, 2009

Planting #2

It's been raining quite a bit over the last two weeks (even though these pictures make it look like things are dry as a bone). The three items previously planted have barely broken ground, but they have broken through. Can you see the itty bitty leaves in these pictures?



This weekend we planted our second group of items: 2 kinds of lettuce, carrots, beets & swiss chard. Tom's been grilling a lot lately and he used the ash from the grill to enhance the carrot/beet bed.

Next planting isn't for several weeks. Hopefully lots of stuff will grow between now and then.

~y

March 9, 2009

Time to make the beds

Last month we started the planning process. We are using Master Gardener Jerry Baker as our source for what to do and what not to do.

As you read in last week's post, we got rained/snowed out and couldn't begin our 2009 garden. But THIS weekend was a different story. It was mid-to-high 70s; perfect time to get outside and start planting early veggies. Saturday Tom spent many hours trimming back overgrown trees to give our garden more sunlight. Sunday I trimmed bushes around the back of the house. Trimming those had nothing to do with our veggie garden but they'd been overgrown and bugging the heck out of me so I started with that.

We bought wide-brimmed gardening hats to protect our skin this year. Stylish, eh?

After taking all the limbs to the front yard, it was time to make the beds. When planning, we decided to create 2 more beds than last year (12 instead of 10). We also decided to plant fewer plants with a wider variety of items instead of a lot of plants of a few items. That way we'll get to know what really works and what doesn't.

They look like coffins, don't they?

Another thing we decided to do this year is to put a boarder around the outside of the garden where we can grow flowers to attract bees and detract bugs. We came up with a plan that we hope will also prevent weeds from creeping in past the fence. While I worked on the beds, Tom stared the boarder. He laid a row of newspaper and then covered it with pine needles. Later we'll plant flowers in pots and set them on top of the pine needles. Unfortunately, we had to buy the pine needles. We would have rather used leaves, but by the time we thought to do this, all the leaves in the neighborhood were gone. Next time around, we'll use use leaves instead.

We took the left over pine needles and used them for the walkway down the middle of the garden. Items that were planted for this first round were: 1/2 bed of cauliflower, 1/2 bed of turnips, and 1 bed of spinach. We were supposed to plant broccoli too, but we couldn't find the seeds.

Tom got punchy towards the end of the day...

~Y

March 2, 2009

It's it time yet? Is it time yet?

Several weeks ago, we received our seed catalogs (Burpee and Park Seeds). We took our time and carefully selected seeds for this year's TY garden. I sent the order off and minus a few back ordered items, we were set to go.

According to our charts and books, the first planting for 2009 should be done 6 weeks before the last frost. That date was this past weekend. EXCITING! We went to our local garden store Friday night to buy a few odds and ends (potash, hedge clippers, soil tester, pine needles, etc.). The plan was to get an early start Saturday morning. I'd heard rain was predicted for the weekend but figured it wouldn't be too bad. After all, we made the soil casserole in the rain last fall; we should be able to set out a few beds of seeds in the rain. Right?

A bit of a misjudgment for sure! It began raining Friday night and kept on raining all the way through last night until it became......


Needless to say, we didn't start the garden this weekend. :(

The time is drawing near, however so look for weekly updates from here on out. We'll report on what we're planting as we plant it and anything else going on garden-wise.

~Y