March 28th, 2012

In the main garden
Garlic, Brussels Sprouts, Asparagus, Snow peas, Snap peas, Spinach, Marigolds, Onions, Bush Beans, Radishes, Kale 

In the herb garden
Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Parsley, Oregano, Mint, Onions

Growing indoors

Collard greens, Spinach, Bib Lettuce, Parsley, Poblano Peppers, Anaheim Peppers, Basil, Aster, Celosia, Tithonia

This week 

• Asparagus - The first asparagus spears have grown to about 18 inches.   There are about 15 spears in all, and it is really hard not to eat them.   Bobe convinced me that we should definitely wait another year before eating any of them.
• Peas - Some of them are now about 6 inches tall.  A lot came up, but it is still a little spotty. On the 26th we sowed another batch.  Maybe about 20-30 more of each.  Still in a pretty tight space, so we will see if this experiment works!
   
• Onions - The onion sets in both the vegetable garden and the herb garden broke the surface.  Some popped up in 3-4 days.   By now, I would estimate that about half of the onions have broken the surface, some reaching 6 inches high.

• Note:  Not sure if I wrote about this already, but last year we tried three types of onions from seed.  About 40 came up, but over time we ended up with about 6 onions, none of them bigger than a pearl onion.  I gave up on trying that again, but I saw a bag of onion sets at ACE for $1.99, and I couldn't resist.  I actually had not really known what onion sets were until I saw the bag. I thought onion sets were the same as bunching onions (perennial onions), but obviously I was wrong.   Onion sets look like mini dried out onions that are between a dime and a quarter in size.  One interesting thing I read, was that the smaller sets grow into bigger onions.  The ones that are closer to a quarter in size, were pulled too late, and will flower earlier, so they are best used as green onions.  Pretty cool, and definitely not intuitive.  

• Bush Beans - We sowed about 15 contender beans into the middle of the middle bed.  Probably should have dropped in 2 beans in each spot, but I figured we would try with just one and see how many come up.  Rather than dig a hole, we just pushed the beans down about 1 inch.  If I notice that some are a week behind the others, I'll just reseed the ones that failed, which will hopefully give us a nice staggered picking.  The plan is also to reseed in about a month as well.
• Radishes - Finally got the radishes in the garden, in between the garlic stalks.   They are supposed to mature in 30 days, which is really quick, so that should be fun and interesting.  Any ideas on what to do with white icicle radishes aside from salad?   Bobe said that she used to eat salted buttered radishes as a snack. That sounds pretty good.
• Kale  - Emily convinced me to use the other half of the future sweet potato bed for kale, so that is what went in this weekend.   Same as the spinach. Just sprinkled the kale all over, and added a little soil on top.  Much different than the way we did it last year, in a single row, spaced about a foot apart.
• Drip System  - After installing the first half of the drip system, I realized that because we are planting in wide rows, we actually needed way more mini sprayers/sprinklers than drippers.  The drippers are good for putting at the base of plants like tomatoes, peppers, etc, but for wide rows of greens, peas, beans, onions, etc, the mini-sprayers work great.    I also installed the drip system all the way around the front of the house, so now the whole thing is automated.  We'll have to water the grass, but aside from that, I don't think we will have to water anything garden related or any of the shrubs/bushes/flowers.     

Garden Plan - March 26th, 2012

First signs of activity

Peas, Spinach, and Asparagus have broken the surface

	All three types of peas came up!  Sowed outdoors: March 11th  First broke surface: March 19th  Germination time: 8 days
	About 10-15 spinach seedlings have come up. I only placed about 6 of the seedlings that germinated on the paper towel inside in this bed, so it looks like the original planting did not need any help. Sowed outdoors: March 11th  First broke surface: March 19th  Germination time: 8 days
	Two  asparagus spears have come up, and they are thicker than I thought they would be.   I am pretty sure this is the asparagus from Ohio, but it is right in the middle of the two plantings, so I am not really sure. Planted: June 2011  Broke surface: March 22nd

March 18th, 2012

Currently in the garden
Vegetables: Garlic, Brussels Sprouts, Asparagus, Snow peas, Snap peas, Spinach, Marigolds, Onions

Herbs: Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Parsley, Oregano, Mint

Growing indoors

Collard greens, Spinach, Bib Lettuce, Parsley, Poblano Peppers, Anaheim Peppers, Basil, Aster, Celosia, Tithonia

This week 

• Onions - Planted onion sets into the bottom half of the left bed, in three double rows.  I plan to plant lettuce in between the onion rows, and when it is time to transplant the peppers, I will take up as many onions as I need to, to make space.   That is the plan anyway.  
• Drip Irrigation System - Installed the drip irrigation system. Pretty amazing.  It is on a timer so at this point, all of the watering is automated.  Right now, I have it set for 1 hour every morning, but I will most likely have to change that.  Maybe have it go for longer, but every other day.  TBD!   

Here is a panorama of the yard:

March 11th, 2012

Currently in the garden

Vegetables: Garlic, Brussels Sprouts, Asparagus, Snow peas, Snap peas, Spinach, Marigolds

Herbs: Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Parsley, Oregano, Mint

Growing indoors

Collard greens, Spinach, Bib Lettuce, Parsley, Poblano Peppers, Anaheim Peppers, Basil, Aster, Celosia, Tithonia

This week

• Peas - Directly sowed Snow and Snap peas at the bottom of the middle bed
• Spinach - Directly sowed spinach seeds into top of third bed. I also have spinach germinating inside, but I wanted to try both to see which works better. 
• Marigolds - Directly sowed marigold seeds at the bottom of each bed, and to the right of the right bed.  Bobe and Zade always had Marigolds bordering their garden, and I have learned that Marigolds are a really good bug deterrent.

March 4th, 2012

Currently in the garden
Vegetables: Garlic, Brussels Sprouts, Asparagus

Herbs: Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Parsley, Oregano, Mint

Growing indoors

Collard greens, Spinach, Bib Lettuce, Parsley, Poblano Peppers, Anaheim Peppers, Basil, Aster, Celosia, Tithonia

This week

• Extended the paths all of the way back to the asparagus bed. 
• Transferred the soil that was in back section of the paths to the third bed.
• Added top soil and hummus/manure mix to both of the new beds, mostly the newest bed to continue to raise it higher.  
• Placed paper on top of the paths, and straw on top of the paper.  This is to keep the weeds down, and to make it easier to outline path vs bed.  

I really thought about making wood based raised beds, but it would have required so much more new soil, I decided against it.

2012 Garden

The 2012 garden got a big upgrade this year.

1) We planted garlic in the fall, which "should" give us a nice big heads of garlic.
2) In October, we dug a second bed -- The middle row in the picture.
3) In February, we dug a third bed -- The right row in the picture.

February 19th, 2012

The idea behind rows like this is that you want to make the paths permanent, so that you never have to step into the bed, which compacts the soil, making it a lot harder for the vegetables to spread out their roots and find more nutrients.

First, I created a path in between the left (original) bed and the fence.   It was really nice growing the peas and pole beans along the fence, but once everything grew in, it was really hard to walk around on that side without crushing things or breaking things.  Additionally, I was compacting and wasting all of that good soil.

Rather than permentnly wasting the good soil, I dug it up to the clay (about a foot deep), and used that dirt to raise the middle bed.   I also emptied our composter (about 8 months worth) and used that on the top of the bed.   I read that by building the bed in the fall, and especially adding the compost, you are making the bed a place the worms want to be.   The worms gravitate towards the bed, and spend all winter working on the soil.

By February when I dug the third bed, I could see a huge difference in the middle bed.   It was much softer, darker soil, and there were tons of worms everywhere.

The third bed was a mid winter idea, spawned from the possibility of trying to grow sweet potatoes.  The sweet potato slips will come in May, so until then, we are going to try and plant spinach in that bed.