I was finally able to get into the garden this weekend. On Sunday, Spouse spent some quality time with the leaf blower, while I got going with the vegetable garden. The weather was beautiful - mid-70's and sunny.
Here's the upper bed after a few hours of work. I did some weeding, then spread compost over the two long beds and the triangular bed in the back. I strung the trellis with twine, so it's ready for climbing snap peas (I'm using bamboo teepees for pole beans this year.)
Once that was done, I planted Sugar Snap Peas under the trellis, Space Spinach* next to the trellised peas, Sugar Ann Snap Peas in half the far long bed, and radishes (Cherry Belle* and Purple Plum*) and lettuce (Merlot and Black Seeded Simpson) in the far triangular bed.
Meanwhile, in the lower garden, nothing much got done from a gardening perspective (although Spouse blew out all the leaves). However, some plants are starting to come up. Below you'll see the chives and the garden oregano. The season has begun!
* I got the seed for Space Spinach, Cherry Belle Radish and Purple Plum Radish from Pinetree Garden Seeds, on the web at www.superseeds.com. Right now I can't connect to their website so can't provide links.
I managed to get almost everything planted in the vegetable garden over the Memorial Day weekend. To finish the tomatoes, I also was out there on Tuesday afternoon, but now everything except the peppers are in. All beans (pole & bush) were planted 5/27, tomatoes were done 5/29.
Below is the upper garden. The lower right bed has roots and greens - look how pretty the black-seeded Simpson and Merlot lettuces look. The lower left is snap peas, spinach (behind the peas) and newly planted pole beans Fortex and Purple Podded Pole. The little center tepee bed has Roma pole beans, saved and passed on by a friend. The upper right bed has cucumbers and zucchini, while the upper left bed with the fence contains fingerling potatoes and Blue Lake bush beans. The very upper left bed is still empty, except for lots of thistle. I plan to put in garden huckleberries there, but I need to get the thistle out first.
Below on the left is the lower garden. Herbs and cherry-type tomatoes are in the front two beds, main-crop tomatoes are in the back two beds. On the right is a close-up of one of the tomato beds. I planted 17 total tomato plants. Four are cherry types, two are drying types, and two Green Zebras. The rest are main-crop tomatoes, which are all new varieties for me this year in my quest for the perfect main-crop, all-purpose tomato.
It all mostly went well, except that I managed to snap off the top of the only Sungold plant that I had! My mistake is that I gave away all of the seedlings I didn't need before I did my own planting, so my two extra Sungolds were already gone. Lesson learned: never give away your extra seedlings until after you're done with your own planting! I kept the stem planted - who knows, maybe it will sprout some leaves and do okay. I hope so, because I've heard nothing but good things about this cherry tomato.
Lastly, a few close-ups of things already growing. The photo on the left shows the potatoes doing quite well. I just planted one-third of the rest of the bed with bush beans, and will plant the rest with more bush beans next weekend. I'm really hoping to get two potato plantings this year. I've saved my seed potatoes in the basement, and if they aren't too squishy and rotten, I'll plant more in July.
The photo on the right is a close-up of the snap peas which started flowering on about 5/27. This year I planted Sugar Ann from Johnny's, and I really like the growth habit. They are short enough so they won't fall over and/or shade the other things on the trellis like the standard Sugar Snap peas did last year. Hopefully they'll be just as prolific and delicious as the sugar snaps!
Despite the intrusion of a wiggly red dog in the vegetable garden, I did manage to get a few things accomplished this weekend.
The lettuce and chard were thinned (leaving delicious baby greens in the refrigerator) and cabbages were transplanted into the roots and greens bed. I stopped in at work to re-pot my peppers - along with the tomatoes, they'll be ready to plant sometime in the next 5-10 days. I also managed to put together my front yard pots and stop at a plant sale that an older couple was having in their backyard.
Left: The roots and greens bed after the cabbage was transplanted.
Right: Th snap peas and spinach are doing well.
Left: Potatoes waiting for their last mounding of soil.
Right: I can't wait for the garlic!
And here's Brix, looking pretty pleased with himself for discovering the gourmet joys of pea shoots.
This weekend was busy, but I did manage to get the potatoes planted on Sunday, April 22. That's 11 days later than last year.
I planted two fingerling varieties: Rose Finn Apple and French Fingerling. Both were purchased from Seed Savers. Because of the great potato confusion of 2006, I've labeled them well - both on my garden plan and with plant labels in the garden. However, I did contradict myself. When I posted on my mistake, I said I wouldn't grow Rose Finn Apple again this year. However, because I'm not sure which was the more prolific variety, I'm growing both varieties again so that I can make a definitive and final judgment this year.
And now, for the most boring picture on a blog - ever - I give you my potato planting.
It was a beautiful day yesterday, so when I got home from work yesterday I decided to plant the first of my vegetables. Now that it's mid-April and daylight savings time is here, the sun doesn't set until about 7:30 or 8:00, which gave me just enough time to get some gardening done.
So, what was planted? Sugar Ann Snap Peas, Purple Plum Radishes, Cherry Belle Radishes, Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce, Merlot Lettuce, Olympia Giant Spinach, Space Spinach and Rhubarb Chard. This weekend I'll plant my fingerling potatoes - French and Rose Finn Apple.
Surprisingly, I'm not that far behind last year. Given our cold and snowy spring, I thought that I was way behind schedule. But, looking over my blog archives, I discover that in 2006 I planted potatoes on April 11, peas and spinach on April 13 and the rest of the spring greens on April 16.
