A Beautiful Weekend Full of Chores (and That’s a Good Thing!)

Being outside this past weekend one would never know that the place was soggy from rain and snow a mere 7+ days before! As they say, what a difference a week makes. We had two gorgeous days in the 60s and 70s (almost reached 80 on Sunday!). And it was with the sun in mind that we packed our schedule full of outdoors chores. This included everything from mowing the grass to planting some early seeds.

It also included the requisite bout of resulting allergies. Ick. They aren’t too bad yet, but based on the light sneezing and wheezing in our household over the past couple days, it’s a good sign that Spring allergies are certainly on their way.

But enough about silly things like allergies — we had a garden that needed some more TLC!

After mowing and completing some additional clearing of random leaves and branches, the bulk of Saturday was spent weeding. It turned out that the little green seedlings scattered about that we initially thought might be tomatoes…

…had really just blossomed into weeds. So they had to go.

However, most surprisingly, we did find a couple of carrots growing!

No plans to plant carrots this year, but we’ll see if these guys make it.

And then, we had to deal with this stuff.

This ivy-like weed is called many things — we had been calling it “dollar weed” — but we like the term “Creeping Charlie” better. Not that it’s better; in fact, it’s is highly annoying, and it has all but taken over the backyard. And before we got to weeding, it has started to creep into most of the garden bed. We pulled out as much as we could stand. After awhile its “minty” scent that it produced upon being yanked up proved to be too much, and we had to call it a day. Hopefully it’ll start to die back once the weather gets warmer and less damp.

But as much as we got done well into the evening hours of Saturday (this included digging up and resetting a number of stones out in our front beds, as well. Oh! And moving/transplanting some lilies. Boy, we were busy!), it was nothing compared to the banner day we had Sunday. It was time to start some early seeds — mostly lettuce, greens, radishes, and we took a risk with peas and a couple peppers — which meant that we had to re-assemble our net cages.

Last year we made four square-ish net cages to go over our raised bed. We made them in a way that they could be taken apart and rolled up over the winter. It was all quite grand until it came time to put them back together, which we couldn’t quite remember how to do, at first. As we hadn’t labeled which pieces when together to form which cage — we had two small ones, one large one, and one with a “door” to lift for easy access — getting them back together was puzzling at first. We eventually decided to simply lay all the pieces out in the yard to figure things out.

So many pieces!

And more pieces, still.

Once we remembered how to put one cage together properly, the rest were a snap. The only issue we faced were repairs, as a number of zip ties used to hold the net to the PVC pipe had cracked. So each cage had to be moved to the driveway for inspection.

First cage in line ready for inspection.

We removed any cracked zip ties…

…and replaced them with new ones. Simple if a little time consuming.

Once all the cages had been checked and fixed, we placed them over their proper beds.

Good to see the gang back together!

We have a couple things of note here. First is this raised bed:

Notice anything funny?

Over the winter, the wood boards bordering the bed picture above collapsed and rotted. Rather than replace the boards, we decided to continue our “design” scheme that we had applied to our stone beds and picked up some landscaping stones to make a new border. The layout right now as seen in the image is rough. They might stay like that, we might dig them out a little to set them straighter, or might turn them up on their edges so that the cage fits better. Not sure yet what will happen, but the idea is that we’ll replace each raised bed with a stone border once the current wood borders deteriorate. The rest of the beds are fine for now.

The other new “addition” are some small, makeshift trellises that we added to the bed in which we grow peas.

These were made using a set of old wire shelves, some zip ties, and some metal poles. Nothing special but it works! And it means that we can now fill the bed with different peas rather than only planted the peas along the edges. And despite the fact that the nights will be a little on the cool side for a couple more weeks, at least, we went ahead with planting out the bed.

And that brought the busy weekend to a close. Interestingly, on Sunday we were joined in the backyard by this guy:

Hello, Mr. Robin.

While we think this Robin stuck around because he knew we were digging up the yard, and hence, digging up grubs and bugs and worms, it was nice to have to company. For much of the day he just stood around in the background watching us. But during one brave moment he got up close to our work area and got himself “stuck” in one of the net cages. (The cage was on its end with the open side out. He flew in and insisted on trying to fly up, only to meet with the netting. He eventually solved the “puzzle” and flew out instead of up.)

All in all, it was an excellent weekend, even if it resulted in muscle pain and allergies. And there’s plenty yet to be done!

 

The Garden Race Starts Slow and Steady with Indoor Seed Starting

No matter the strange weather that may be happening outside, this past weekend, we got ourselves up and running and ready to plant! Seeds, that it. It’s never quite as exciting as it sounds in practice, but knowing what’s coming — now there’s the excitement!

We covered our seed planting process a couple years back. And last year we upgraded to using a sturdy, industrial set of shelves for our seed trays, outfitted with long plant lights. So we’re not going to rehash things here. In sum, we gathered together all our supplies — seed trays, coconut coir, the seeds themselves, and water. After hydrating the coir, filling the trays, and setting out the seeds in the order in which they would be planted, it was time to plant!

As usual, and as per our planting calendar of those items that can be started early and indoors, we planted mostly peppers, tomatoes, greens, and lettuces. We also started a few of our oddballs, like ground cherries, huckleberries, tomatillos, brussel sprouts, and broccoli. (We know we’ve had no luck with broccoli in the past couple years, but we’ve got to keep trying!) The big change in our seeds from last year to this year is the number of different seeds we planted. Because we’re crazy, the number has gone up. As we have four seed trays each containing 12 rows each containing 6 cups…um…well, forget the math. Here’s what’s in the trays!

In total, that’s 72 different plants, provided they all germinate. And we’re pretty sure that most of them will. We know that the greens will make the first showing and peppers the last. We’re not sure what will come of either brussel sprouts or huckleberries, but the big question marks are those Planet Hybrid peppers, the parthenocarpic ones that don’t need pollination. Many fingers crossed there.

So are seed trays are stacked, watered, heated, and ready to go! Perhaps next week we’ll have some “baby” pictures to share! 😀

2015’s First Update in Pictures

Between a few days before our last post and today, things have been hustling and bustling in the garden! (Well…when we’re not at work, that is.) We’ve managed to get everything in the ground that needs to be there, whether seed or seedling, and that means it’s time for this year’s first update in pictures! Granted, you’re just going to see a lot of dirt below as we’re still very much in that nervous phase of wondering if the new seedlings will take and/or if the new seeds will germinate. Some things are coming in all fine and dandy! While some things are taking their sweet, ol’ time with the growing. And some things…well…let’s just say that the squirrels and birds are already making their presence in the garden known, and unhappily so. But, we shall persevere, as we always have, and so to shall the plants that don’t get end up being pawed or chomped out of existence. (Good thing we have plenty of extra seeds and some seedlings!) Without further ado, it’s on with the update!

Starting off, we have the strawberries. which are flowering quite nicely. In years past we’ve placed cherry tomatoes in this bed, but not this year. This year we’re just letting the strawberry do its thing.

Next, on the side of the house, we have the “side bed.” More strawberries, tomatillos, cabbage, and endive are all here…almost. A few of the tomatillo and cabbage seedlings died off after just a couple days. 😦 In their places are several varieties of peppers.

In the first stone bed, we’ve got tomatoes, peppers, asparagus (the bushy stalks surrounded by bricks off to the right) and TONS of marigolds (all those random green clumps) that are coming up from last year. We’re letting them go for now with plans to thin them in a couple weeks.

In the second stone bed, all is quiet with tomatoes, carrots, and mounds holding zucchini and other squash seeds. No signs of green here yet, except from the tomatoes.

At the back of the yard are our plastic barrels, each with alternative peppers and tomatoes.

Coming back round, we have the wood barrels at the heads of the stone beds, replete with teensy ground cherries in the centers surrounded by a ring of radishes (we hope!)

Bush beans and a lone row of cucumbers (far left) take up the far side of our longest garden bed. And that lovely hole dead center? We can “thank” the squirrels for that. Grrrrr….

In the center of the long bed we have mounds of pole beans at the front with rows of sunflowers and corn at the back.

More bush beans take up the other side of the long bed. The row that you see with plants — pinto beans! We can’t believe how soon they made a showing.  Actually, we have the promise of several bean varieties over here.

What’s in raised bed #1? More beans and peas, along with a small section of broccoli bottom right. (The jury’s out on whether or not the seedlings will survive.)

In raised bed #2, we have so many greens! They bulk of these reseeded from last year and we’ve been enjoying the lovely spinach (2 plants, center) that came back.

In raised bed #3 are two rows of peas and two rows of cucumbers. No signs of life yet.

In raised bed #4 is okra, kale, and arugula. Again, we’re on seedling watch here. If things don’t make it, we’ll be planting new seeds soon.

And finally, moving to the porch, we have our planter beds with herbs. In this one is cilantro (left) and stevia (right).

And finally, taking up the other planters is basil. Lots and LOTS o’ basil for lots and LOTS o’ pizza!

Tis enough pictures for one day, no? Now it’s onto watering and waiting!

The garden is going, and here’s what’s going in it.

Note: As of this week, we’re officially moving our posting day to a weekday – Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, depending on when we can get to the computer. It’s been a struggle to even think about blogging on an exhausted Sunday evening of late. Plus, it allows a little more time to reflect on all the goings-on.

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This past weekend felt like the weekend we had been waiting for all winter — 75-80 degrees and plenty of sun! It was pretty spectacular, and it allowed us to get tons more done. Unfortunately, the amount we had to get done precluded the taking of photographs (read: we were too busy to remember the camera), so instead this week we’re going to offer up what’s going in the garden this year with all the amazing non-MS Paint skills we can muster! Yep, we put together a new set of garden maps, some of which look remarkably the same from the ones we made last year, at least in terms of layout. In fact, besides the new stone bed, all the other beds, raised or not, remain the same.

We should point out that none of the upcoming layouts are set in stone, and we’ve made at least one change since we made these (noted in the accompanying caption). The more time we spend outside, the more memories are coming back to us in terms of which part of the yard gets the best sun and where we had some of our best harvests. That said, we have moved certain plants around based on how things went in the past. Hopefully they’ll lead to some good things in the coming months. So here’s where things mostly stand for now. (And, with a big planting party planned for this coming weekend, we’ll be back next week with what we hope is our first update in pictures of the year!)

Starting on the side of the yard, we have our largest bed. We’re making a second (futile?) attempt with corn here. But mostly this bed is housing a multitude of beans.

Moving onto the first stone bed, like last year, this one will contain only tomatoes and peppers. And we’re keeping an eye on the few moments of asparagus that have made a showing this year.

In the second (new) stone bed, we’re trying something new by putting here zucchini, carrots, melons, and tomatoes. Quite the melange.

Ground cherries are going back in the wood barrels that sit at the heads of the stone beds, along with the new additions of radishes.

At the back of the yard are our plastic barrel planters, each of which will hold either peppers or tomatoes.

Back at the front of the yard, the little side bed is getting all new stuff. No tomatoes here this year.

Our first two raised beds are remaining mostly the same from last year. This year we’re trying broccoli instead of romanesco in bed #1. Here’s hoping. Some spinach and lettuce from last year has popped up already in bed #2.

And finally, the last two raised beds are also similar from last year. The big change is that we’re adding a couple rows of peas in with the cucumbers in bed #4, and okra is going in bed #4. We also decided against putting peppers in bed #4 – arugula is going in its place instead.

 

It’s go time, for real! (Part 2)

Last weekend we really got into planting, and what an exciting venture it was! This weekend we took things a little bit easier, though we did manage to plant everything in our very largest of garden beds — sunflowers, corn, melons, zucchini, beans, pumpkin.

Never mind the garden “octupus.” That’s the irrigation system we’ve yet to set up. Also, on this end of the bed we plant

From back to front, we have sunflowers, corns, zucchini, and beans. (Or, we will soon!)

More of the same.

And over here we have melons.

In addition to getting the long bed planted, we had to figure out what to do with our many, many, many tomato and peppers seedling that were still in their starter trays. Some of them had been used to replace early transplants that didn’t survive the process, but we had lots left over. So…necessity became the mother of invention (and re-purposing)! We procured several large plastic drums, cut them in half, filled them with soil, and…voila!

More raised planters!

These tomatoes and peppers are in the far, back corner of the yard. It’s not ideal since they’ll only get morning sun, but it was the best we could do for the moment. They weathered some significant rain, and so far, so good!

To help us keep track of everything, we created a few planting maps. Our skills using MS Paint aside, here’s what our garden looks like on “paper.”

In addition, here’s what’s in the marigold beds in the front yard:

We’ve got plenty to watch over the summer! With everything now in the ground, it’s onto several weeks of maintenance, weeding, varmint control, etc., as everything starts to take root. We leave you this week with a few more images of things happening in the yard. Happy Spring!

One of our sadder azalea bushes out front is being overtaken by Bittersweet Nightshade. The flowers look pretty now, but its berries (that come later) are poisonous. So it’ll be cut away soon.

A Eight-Spotted Forester moth caught in the netting. Don’t worry, we freed it. 🙂

Adding to our “visitors” list are two ducks that stop by our yard every now and again. We’ve named them Harold and Maude.

In a couple weeks, we hope to have some strawberries! (As long as the birds don’t get them first.)

The lilac bush was here when we moved in, and we love seeing to come to life each Spring!

 

It’s go time, for real! (Part 1)

Alrighty, let’s get planting!

That was our motto for the the past week. As much as we had hoped to get to planting last week, it just didn’t happen. Aside from a few pockets of rain here and there, we had a week of really fine weather. (And with it being sunny and in the 80s today, we couldn’t have asked for a better start to this week!) Over the course of several lovely evenings, we got a number of new plants in the ground — tomatoes, peppers, greens, and ground cherries, along with cucumber seeds and scattered flower seeds. In all of the planting beds we’ve interspersed a number of different flowers, mostly different varieties of marigolds with morning glories and violas. (As well as sunflowers, but we’re counting most of those among the plants we can eat.) Mixing flowers and vegetable plants expounds upon the notion of companion planting and hopefully, it’ll bring all the bees to the yard. (No milkshakes, please.) All. The. Bees! Or, we wish. It’s no secret that honey bee populations have been in decline; we’re happy to host lots of bumblebees. The wasps…those we could do without. Anyhoo, it’s too soon to know if any of the flowers have taken, but maybe we’ll have some very pretty beds in a couple months.  Here are just some of the garden beds with their new tenants. (Sorry about all the netting, it’s our initial countermeasure against all the birds and squirrels. And goodness, the yard has been full of them lately!)

First off, the cucumbers. Okay, so you can’t really see the mounds, but this raised bed is full of 2nd gen. seeds, pickling, and sugar crunch varieties.

Last year, this little bed by the house was full of cherry tomatoes. Since the strawberry is taking over one half of the bed, we’ve only put in one tomato plant to far.

In one barrel we have ground cherry seedlings and wax beans…

…in the other we have more ground cherries and cowpeas.

And now the stone bed, in 4 parts. Tomatoes, peppers, and mixed greens, part 1.

The stone bed, part 2.

The stone bed, part 3.

Annnnd,,,The stone bed, part 4.

As of today, we’ve only had to replace one tomato plant that didn’t survive the transplant. It’s tough watching the little seedlings right now as they all seem so small and fragile in the big, ol’ ground!  Some seem to be taking to their new homes just fine, while others struggle. (Mainly the tomatoes; the peppers seem to be doing okay for the moment.) After a big storm last night, a couple of the plants have broken stems, so we may have more replacements to take care of in the near future.

Come back next week as we show more wondrous stretches of dirt with seeds in them! Also, we’ll go over just what seeds were planted where. That’s probably little more exciting than dirt.

Maybe.