It’s Planting Time!
As I alluded to Monday, this has been a busy week for gardening, but it’s been so worthwhile. Starting on Sunday, I have put in over an hour every day up until today, and I am so glad that I did!
Here are some of the seeds that we planted on Wednesday. In the last several days, we have planted snow and shelling peas, turnips, beets, a bit of radishes (more to be planted yet), multiple lettuce varieties, spinach, carrots, onions (red, white and yellow, with more red and white still to be planted), and a few sunflowers.
You can see how the garden is starting to take shape. The green stuff growing in the last two rows is garlic that I planted in the fall. The middle row was planted today with carrots, onions, lettuce and spinach. The second row has peas under the dark soil, and will soon have herbs and zucchini in the bottom half. Above the second row (along the fence) is the turnips and beets. The first row (far left) is waiting for my broccoli and cauliflower transplants.
Here they are, hardening off on my patio. A little bit leggy, but they’ve all got a third set of leaves now, so I think they should do okay if I plant them deeply enough.
It’s been a ton of hard work, getting this much done in a few days- all that tilling, fertilizing, and planting. Who knew how strenuous it was to do when you’re 5 months pregnant? Whew! I am grateful, though, to be doing it now and not in another month or two! 🙂
One change I’ve made this year is that I’m trying out some slightly different gardening techniques, a la the book Joy of Gardening. It was given to me last summer, and I think many of the ideas are really worth trying. He advocates heavier seeding in wider rows, to provide more of a living, green mulch and to help keep weeds at bay. With the heavier seeding comes some thinning (he recommends using a rake to do it when the seedlings are young, for most crops), and also lots of early picking and eating (this part I really like!). All the early picking helps to aerate the soil and then provide more room for the remaining veggies to grow nice and big, and overall it is supposed to give a much bigger yield in the same amount of space. I’ll keep you updated during the season on how I’m finding these new methods!
Just as soon as our nice weather comes back (it stuck around from Sunday to Wednesday and is supposed to be back the middle of next week), I’ll be finishing up the rest, which will include some cucumbers, zucchini, the seedlings, some herbs and the remaining onions. After that is corn, and then my spring garden is all planted up! I know that I might lose the cucumbers and zucchini if it gets too cold (I’ll be right around the last frost date this week or next), but it’s worth a try to get a jump on the season. I can always replant.
I’ve got my spring and summer garden layouts all finished as well, and I’ll get those posted up real soon!
Where are the rest of you at in your gardening? Have you gotten started yet, or are you still planning and preparing? (I’m so sorry to those of you with snow still… it will go away soon, really it will!)
I don’t have a garden yet, though I’d like to plant some pots of tomatoes and herbs – we are a military family, moving in July, so I can’t do a traditional garden 🙁 But I sure love looking at yours, there is something so inspiring, soothing, and delightful about a garden bed. Have you ever done “transportable” gardening?
We are excited about gardening as well! We have already planted peas, swiss chard, spinach and turnips and have broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage transplants all ready to go. Our garden is a combination of raised beds and square-foot plots. I highly recommend Mel Bartholomew’s book “Square Foot Gardening”. He does not advocate heavy seeding….you just plant exactly what you need but plant it closer together. By not stepping on the soil, you allow the microbes to flourish and over time (along with adding compost and such), your soil will be rich, soft and aerated.
Our goal this year is to grow and preserve enough food to last us throughout the year, supplementing where we need to with good meats, raw milk and local fruit.
Happy Gardening! 🙂
We love hearing everyone else’s gardening experiences. We’ve been busily preparing our garden and planting seeds.
Here are some recent garden posts if you’re interested:
Sturdy Recycled Newspaper Pots
http://a-heart4home.blogspot.com/2009/04/sturdy-recycled-newspaper-pots.html
Seed Starter Pots from Empty Toilet Paper Rolls
http://a-heart4home.blogspot.com/2009/03/seed-starter-pots-from-empty-toilet.html
Saving Some Green in the Garden
http://a-heart4home.blogspot.com/2009/03/saving-some-green-in-garden.html
Allyson
http://a-heart4home.blogspot.com
It looks great. I have nice garden plot, but I am working on a few other areas to plant even more produce and items like lettuce, spinach, herbs and we will have to see what else. It’s still pretty cold here in Wisconsin, so I will have to wait a few more weeks to plant. Thanks for sharing about your garden.
Thanks for adding the apology about the snow. 🙂 LOL. My daughter told me its not springtime, its winter still. 🙂 This is fairly normal though for us.
I remember trying to harvest my garden being pregnant (about 5 months pregnant at the time) and it was hard work for sure! Worth it though.
I ordered my seeds a while back, they should be here any day now. I simply could not manage to do the ones I had to start 6-8 weeks early, but most don’t grow well here anyways. Another year I will try again. I am instead going to just plant the things that go right into the ground in spring. I can start planting around the end of May or so, depending. I might try to get a head start on a few things now inside, we’ll see…having a baby sure threw things off but that’s okay!
Last year I started my cucumbers and zuchinni inside, and then transplanted them, using some peat pots I was given. It worked well and then I didn’t have to worry about losing them (last frost date is June). I want to do a cold frame…maybe next year!
I’m at the opposite in seasons to you because I’m in Brisbane Australia but it is just getting cool enough now to consider doing some gardening. I don’t have any vegies but I do have a much neglected rose garden.
Holly, I’ve tried using the Square Foot planting methods and have had good success with those, too. There were just some things in this book that seemed to make sense to me, and I figured it was worth a try at least one year, right? 🙂 If it doesn’t work, I’ll just go back to my old methods last year.
Nola, I was completely thinking of you when I mentioned the snow. 🙂 I understand about not doing all the 6-8 week transplants (I assume you mean tomatoes, peppers, etc.). Honestly, I only got mine planted a little over a week ago, so I’m wayyy behind and I am planting much less of those crops that I did last year. I know that in the middle of the summer, I just won’t have the energy for them, so I am focusing more on a heavy spring garden instead.
You have a nice space to do a garden. Can’t wait to see the results.
In Texas we get started a little earlier than most.
I’ve planted tomatoes, green bell peppers, squash, collard greens. So we’ll see what happens.
I didn’t start these from seed. I purchased them at a garden center.
♥ Joy
I don’t have snow, but easily could; we’re only zone 4. 🙂 So I don’t get to set out my seeds until May at the earliest. It’s so fun to read about others’ gardens, though, and look at my seedlings starting on my windowsill and HOPE! 😀
Ok, I am totally gonna grow *something* this year.
I’m inspired!
😉