Thursday, February 19, 2009

Finally! A Start On My Garden!

Last night I got some seeds started in trays. I planted artichokes, tomatoes, peppers and amaranth.

I also worked on the garden bed around my fish pond. I planted two blueberry and two blackberry bushes. I got it all mulched in with some stale chicken poo.

After I got it all watered in, my dogs promptly raced through the mud, arced around the yard and into the house. My wife was not amused.

I topped it all off with a couple of bags of leaves. The area I planted them in is a raised bed, bordered by logs collected around the neighborhood. A few years back I filled it in with lot's of tree trimmings and covered it in soil from a hole dug elsewhere in the yard. It's now very friable. It's come a long way from the hard sandy clay that makes up most of my yard.


In that area, I'll later add in artichokes, rosemary bushes and sunflowers. I promise to post pictures at a later date.

2 Comments:

At 2:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have been a CFN reader for some time. Your blog is quite good.

For my own garden planning, I have opted to 'direct sow' all seeds this year.

'Days to maturity' can vary by weeks in some plants. Environmental factors aside, the stress of transplanting negates some of your efforts in establishing an earlier harvest. Rooting is an energy intensive process that will only act to delay fruiting, if it is delayed itself.

As I take in my harvests for preservation/sustenance throughout the winter months, just when I get to pick my first tomato isn't a pressing concern. Although I am drooling at the thought of salsa in July, some patience and it will be all the sweeter in August.

If your growing season is simply not long enough you may try; cold frames, raised beds, modular solar houses or chose cultivars of plants better suited to your climate (ie Siberian tomato instead of a Beefstake).

 
At 3:55 PM, Blogger Weaseldog said...

Welcome Miss G :)

Here in North Central Texas, frost isn't really a concern so much as heat.

Over the last ten years, summer heat has come earlier and earlier. Tomatoes need cool nights to set fruit. These days, the nights are already in the nineties by May.

By August, daytime temps will often be over 100f, so only the hardiest veggies are still alive by then. This is when the hot peppers really take off. And I try to just keep the tomato vines alive in hopes of getting a fall crop.

I grow my leaf crops in the winter as we aere getting fewer freezes, and they don't last as long as they used to.

 

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