Garden Update......busy, busy, busy!!!

Spring is just around the corner! We were blessed with two nice warm days over the weekend. Do you believe it was 62 on Saturday and the mid 50's on Sunday?? So....I went over to the plots to get some work done. This is the best weather for doing this type of work.

I took down 4 of the 5 trellises and laid them on the beds where they will be this year. I forgot the drill-driver both days. So, I couldn't move the last one. I also turned over about half of one of the big beds. I am pleased to report that there are lots of worms!!!

I turned over the one end of this bed where the broccoli will be planted. The garlic is at the other end of this bed.

  

I removed most of the straw from the garlic bed.

 

The bed in the middle was also turned over. This is where I will plant some cauliflower. The two end beds is where the asparagus is planted. No signs of grow yet.

 

As you can see (click on any picture to enlarge), the top of the soil is quite dry for this time of the year.

The raspberries were pruned. I totally forgot to cut them back in the late fall!

I added some additional bunny protection to the fencing. It was too low and we had a bunny living in the garden last year. I managed to get about half of the perimeter finished. Hopefully I will be able to finish it next weekend.

  

There is one full table of starts in the basement. I am in the process of pre-sprouting the peppers and eggplant. By the end of the week, there will be another table going!

 

The greens and lettuce and doing well and......

 

I think it's time to thin the celery!

 

How's your garden prepping coming along???

Starting Early Crops, the Winter Garden & Seed Starting/Planting Schedule

Today I finally got some of my early crops started! I was planning on starting some crops last weekend. However, cleaning up the basement and fixing my one germinating table took more time than I expected.

Since last year was my first time trying to use soil blocks......and I didn't do all that well with them. I decided to start my first plantings in containers. I am however planning to start my Broccoli, Cabbage & Cauliflower in soil blocks.

 I started Collards, Arugula, Tatsoi, Pak Choi, Baby Choi, 4 varieties of Kale and 6 varieties of Lettuce. All of these will be planted out in the empty cold frames very early.

These pretty and colorful tomato cages are the only thing in the cold frames right now. "The Italian" got them for me for my Birthday in December. I think they are really cool! He had them all lined up in a path from where I park my car to the back door and then a special present in the last one!

 

I didn't get around to planting the cold frames this past fall. Life got hectic and truthfully I think it was best for the soil. Last year I had slugs all winter and lots of bugs all season due to the mild winter we had. Maybe a good freeze will help things out a bit. That's my excuse reason and I'm sticking to it!

 

The overwintered spinach (the only way I can grow it) is doing well. The plants are very close right now. I will space them out once the weather permits.

 

There are some burned leaves. But, we will have happy Spinach this Spring!

 

I also started two varieties of Leeks, Caratan & Large American Flag. Large American Flag is new variety for me. I received the seeds from Seeds of the Month Club and am happy to try a new variety. I wanted to try another variety.....so, we shall see how they do.

 

The Celery was also sown today. This year I sowed my tried and true variety, Golden Self Blanching. I also started another new variety from Seeds of the Month Club, Utah. I'm really excited to see how the Utah celery does. Let's just hope we don't have more celery than last year!

 

Also sown were some Herbs; Rosemary, Basil (for inside), Winter Savory, Summer Savory, Cumin & Lemon Grass.

 

 

 My seed starting & planting schedule for this year is as follows:

 

February 23/24 - Start Broccoli & Cabbage

March 9/10 - Start Cauliflower, Eggplants & Peppers

March 16/17 - Peas Outside

March 30/31 - Start Tomatoes

March 30-Mid April - Potatoes, Onions, Carrots, maybe Beets & Greens Outside, weather permitting

April Mid-Late - Broccoli Outside

April -Late to May-Early - Cauliflower Outside

May Early - Start Squash & Melons

May-Early to Mid - Tomatoes Outside

May-Late - Peppers & Eggplants Outside

May-Late to Early June - Direct sow, Beans, Cucumbers, Squash, Popcorn and any other warm crops that I forgot!

 

I'm sure this will change a bit, as it always does. But, that's the plan for now! How are you making out with your garden planning for this year???

A Sad Day for our Neighborhood

Tuesday morning we were wakened at 4:30 AM by the sound of sirens. They really didn't sound that close to our home, but they were. Through the dark, we could see smoke in the distance and some flashing lights less then a block away. "The Italian" thought it may be our lovely neighborhood restaurant.....and sadly enough it was. Some of you may have read this post. Not only we were sadden by the thought of this 105 year old restaurant burning. We were also sadden by the thought of all of the bee hives that were most likely lost.

We sat and talked about what we could do to help. "The Italian" decided to offer to donate his services to help our neighbor get through all the bureaucracy that lies ahead. After I left for work, he walked down and talked to the owner. "The Italian" is meeting with planning and zoning today to start the process of variances that will be needed to rebuild this historic restaurant in our neighborhood which is now zoned residential.

The fire early

You can still see the tops of the bee hives here

Our brave firefighters in the frigid cold

A later picture of the fire. The section on the right is where the bee hives used to be. Most of the building was torn down later in the day due to structural instability.

At our last Community Garden meeting, we had discussed getting some hives at the garden. I was planning to talk to the owner this winter about putting a couple of hives at the Community Garden. If the owner would like to start some new hives and the committee agrees, we can help each other and have his hives at the Community Garden.

Our Neighborhood will not be complete until this sign is hanging once again.

 

Out with the.......

OLD!!!!!

Yep, this old baby is gone!!!

I think this was the first Jenn Air Range manufactured!!!

It was old and weary......maybe even older then Granny!!!

 

 

It's been a long time coming.....but, I finally got a new range!!!

This baby is Dual Fuel with Two Ovens..... 

and Five Burners!!!

 

Look out.......Mama's got a new stove!!!

Decisions, Decisions.........

It's that time of the year....time to make decisions! My seed inventory has been done for a couple of weeks now. Then I had to decide what seeds I "needed". Once that was done. I placed a couple of small seed orders. Which should have been enough. Then I started reading everyone's blogs. That got me thinking about some other things that I "needed" I mean "wanted". So, I placed just one more small order. Hopefully, I will have enough will power to stop! But, you all know how this is! Maybe I should join or start some type of group.....Seeds Anonymous????

This week I have been updating what varieties I am going to grow and how many of each I should plant. This leads to.....how am I going to fit everything in??? The next thing that came up is my tomato supports. The way I support them at home, doesn't work at the plots. So, I need to come up with something better. That got me doing some on-line research on tomato supports. There are a lot of great ways to support tomatoes. But, I really need to come up with something that won't take me forever to build, doesn't cost a fortune and is easy to store.

So far I have come up with two different supports that I think will work.

This one has really peeked my interest.

It's made out of PVC & Conduit.

 

I also really want some of these

Yes, the Texas Tomato Cage!

I know they are pricey.....but, "The Italian" got me the pressure canner for Christmas.....and maybe I can out live them and make the investment worth it!

 

So, what have I decided???? I think I'm going to buy one 6-Pack of the Texas cages and make some of the supports out of the PVC. I guess I better see how much they are going to cost to make first!

 

If any of you have any great support ideas....I'm open for suggestions!!

 

How's your garden planning coming along????