Marching toward April

So big news is that my landlady just gave me 80% of what used to be her garden.  She's 85 and going to be away fron mid-June to mid-August.  Apparently her grown sons lived with her for a while in the 90s and made it into a vegetable garden but she's just been doing tomatoes and flowers for a while now.  The soil needs help - I just started in with some manure and am using my coffee-grounds hookups to get myself premium nitrogen input (I've got a bag that will go in as soon as it cools off).  I'm hoping the poo and coffee combo will get this ground back into shape.

To start, some inside seed-bits all cloched up and waiting:

I've got tomatoes, brussels, eggplants, and onions in so far.

Brussels (Long Island Improved, for the record) getting their secondary leaves!

These guys just sprouted today! (they were definitely right on the edge yesterday) they're about to get moved into a brighter spot.

Basils and a Rosemary in the kitchen.

Peony a-comin' - I'm thinking about moving this inside over the weekend...it's supposed to snow, although I've seen plenty of other in-ground peonies coming up in the neighborhood, I worry about my babies.

Spinach Babies!

Chard babies!

New garden spot!  Colleen and I turned the soil at the back part already and you can see the dark area that I've amended.  The trashbag in the right corner is coffee grounds that I'm going to do another amendment with...and probably mulch a little high around the garlic sprouts in preparation for tonight's snow.  They're supposed to be planted out before the frost, but I still worry about them.

Composter all nestled in the shrub line.  You can also see the wire fence that I'm going to use as a trellis for my gherkins.

Light sprinkling of poo.  I have 3 more bags in the car.

Garlic I transplanted yesterday...not terribly gracefully, I must say.

Garden watchers.  I want two others.  I have to find my goose...so maybe I only want one more.

 

 Dirty Garden Sketch.  Really the best kind of map.  It's about 11' by 18' (not totally regular and punctuated by random tiny trees that may or may not do anything).  Starting upper left and moving clockwise there's a watermelon patch, 4 tomatoes and 2 eggplants surrounded by frilly borders of marigolds, the next rectangle is the partly amended part - garlic, bollyhocks and brussels sprouts, lettuce, spinach, onions, carrots, beets, and chard in rows followed by two cuke plants on the trellis fence.  In the upper right is the composter that I plan to partly screen with dwarf sunflowers. The rectangle full of circles is my three sisters area that will be corn, snap peas, and then two mounds of Jenny Lind Melon and three mounds of Luffa.  Next is a spot that I'm going to put two seed bombs that I have no idea what's in them, and then last (beyond the drain pipe) is the pumpkin patch.  There's going to be a row of nasturtiums between the watermelon and the pumpkin.  There's also going to be a row of Titan sunflowers behind the three sisters.

How I threw my back out...or...the garden is done!

I took this picture on Friday-- so a week ago-- and some of you may have seen it already, but this is how my garden looked at that time:


Click for large and legible version.

It feels good to have gotten all the veggies in and I'm so excited about my three-sisters area. I'm sort of following this guide here.

Basically you plant corn and when the corn is 6 inches high, you plant peas or beans which climb up the corn and bind nitrogen into the soil. Then you plant a vine crop like a squash or a melon which shades the roots and helps keep the weeds down. Genius.

So I have corn, sugar snap peas, and then I'm going to do one mound of melon and two mounds of spaghetti squash.

After the week I had-- Monday and Tuesday clearing the ground and fenceline, Wednesday roto-tilling and sifting the soil (with help from Dougie and Anastasia), Thursday hauling three pick up trucks' worth of yard waste and logs by myself (but I got to use the new chainsaw!!), and then Friday planting it all...plus shooting 2 long weddings Friday and Saturday...when I bent down to tie my shoes on Sunday, I couldn't stand back up again. So I've been seeing a muscular therapist and am mending well but still in pain. Damn it. I still haven't learned to pace myself-- I'm either all in or...not.

Also, Anastasia wanted me to share her chicken coop plans:





As always-- click for large and legible.

Back on the Wagon

So, the end of my season last year...I wished I'd planned more for succession. Most of what we put into the raised bed out back got some weird white rust and died...so it was just big sunflowers and the herbs...nothing really worth taking photos of, although I don't think I documented the sunflowers that well. I think there will be some volunteers there this year. The Moonflower never bloomed. The broccoli never did anything...but we had tasty beets, tomatoes, and carrots.

Then in November the house burned down. I had to leave my compost (although I'd like to go back and get it) and my rain barrel. We have a new place, and I think with some changes I can have a pretty spectacular garden again this year.

I'm really excited for the challenge, some bigger trellis projects (another melon and some cukes), and a bunch of new veggies to taste.

I just bought a ton of seeds...and along with others I saved from seed from last year, I have a garden plan!


Going to give moonflower a second chance--start them inside and put them in better sun.

Tom Thumb Peas - excitingly not viney.

Ladybird Poppies - one of few flowers I'll put in. I love the look of poppies.


Nigra Hollyhock. The black Nasturtiums came up red-brown, apparently I had the soil wrong. Let's see what these babies do.


Empress of India Nasturtium


Chioggia Beet - in addition to seeds left from last year's packet of beets.


Long Island Improved Brussels Sprouts - I am developing a taste for these, and I like things better that I've grown.


Dragon Carrots - adventure! In carrot form!


Rosa Bianca eggplant - a petite and interesting fruit.


Jenny Lind melons - these come from Philadelphia (me too!). After small successes with watermelon, I'm hoping these go well too.


Ailsa Craig Onion


Rainbow Chard. I'm liking colorful food. I also want to grow more greens.


Amish Paste Tomatoes (which I'm hoping to grow upside down)


Monnopa Spinach is very low in acid and so you absorb the nutrients better.


German Butterball potatoes. These are going to be grown in a bag.


Mexican Sour Gherkins claim to be good on trellisses, we'll see.


I saved Grandpa Ott from seed last year. I'm not sure what they'll come up like, but that's part of the adventure.


Romanesco broccoli didn't do anything last year, sadly, just leaves and eventually flowers, but no fruit. I'm going to try again.


These were healthy and the seeds were plentiful - starfire signet marigolds.


Danvers carrots. Tasty and normal.

I also have a clematis tuber and Iris and Lily bulbs from last year. They're in their pots in the garage. When the snow clears in March, I'll pull those out. I want to find garlic locally too, apparently I should have ordered it by November and I was too busy to remember that.

I'm also getting this greenhouse thing. I'm using it indoors until the weather gets nicer and then I can put it out to start the hardening off process. Although, having two would probably be helpful since some stuff should stay in longer than others. I registered for a pop-up greenhouse and a coldframe, but I don't know if I'll get either (at all or in time).

I also really want a lime tree...