Two Down, Two To Go

The Root crop bed is done.

The old sweet potato bed from 2015 was expanded an additional 15 inches to form this bed.  The five leafy plants at this end are my cotton plants, I'll have brown and green cotton.  I believe I'll be harvesting the bolls in September.  Once that's done I can start the cabbage, broccoli, and rutabaga. You can barely see the four onions at the other end.  I got five starts at the Mother Earth News Fair in February and had them in separate pots, but this morning I could only find four...  In front of those four onions are the three little ones I started from seed.  And behind the onions are the carrots and radishes I direct seeded.  I stuck twigs in the soil about an inch from where I put the seeds, so I can know where they are, and not pull them out thinking they're weeds. 

I made seed tapes yesterday for the carrot and radish seeds.  They're really small and I tend to put them too deep in the soil so most of them don't germinate/sprout.  I used a paper towel and Elmer's School Glue - just a light smear on the paper - then I dropped the seeds onto it.  I forgot to get a photo, sorry.  I'll be starting radishes again in 2-3 weeks - I'll make a seed tape and take a photograph then.

The weeds/grass has been pulled from the old tomato bed, it'll be ready for the peppers, cucumbers, okra, etc next week.  I'll put together the new tomato bed next week also.

Until then, never give up, never surrender, and may all your dreams come true.

One Down, Three To Go

Good day today!

 

I transplanted the last of the corn seedlings - 12 of them - and the three black eye pea seedlings into the backyard veggie bed this morning, as per my garden plan.  One bed done, three to go. 

I should be able to complete preparing/amending the 'root veggie' bed tomorrow, direct seed carrots and radishes, and transplant the onions I already have.  The cotton seedlings will go here, too, as placeholders until it's time to start broccoli and cabbage.

And then on Thursday I'll finish clearing the rest of the Bermuda grass out of the 'fruit veggie' bed and add amendments to it also.  I won't transplant any of the peppers, cucumbers, okra, etc. until next week.  

The last bed, the tomato bed, must be built new - there's no soil or anything there yet.  Well, there are some weeds...  That'll be next week, also.

I started basil, catnip, and bitter melon seeds today.  I found the catnip seeds in the back of my seed box, they're from 2012 so I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for them to sprout; but if they do my cats will be happy.  The basil and bitter melon are 2016.  I'll be happy when they sprout.  

This week is the first week in a month that I have Mon-Thurs off, my normal schedule.  I've had to work Wednesdays and Thursdays also for the past three weeks because of a new computer system at work.  Since I dropped the other part-time job last December I've really enjoyed having four days in a row off, so working those extra two days may be nice for my pocketbook, but I haven't had time to do much at home.

Next post should have the 'root veggie' bed all done.  Until then, never give up, never surrender, and may all your dreams come true.

1st Day of Spring

I suppose it is apropos that I finally began working on my veggie beds on the first day of Spring.  I started seeds back on January 31 in a 36-cell seed tray on my dining room table with a heating pad underneath.  Very little came up, which didn't surprise me since I've not had good luck starting seeds in the past.  So, on February 21st I tried again, but this time I put the seed trays outside on my front porch.  My front porch faces south so it gets plenty of sun even during the winter.  Halleluiah! I got seedlings!

It looks like I'll have 12 tomato plants, 3 black-eye peas, two each of cucumbers, okra, and bell peppers, and one jalapeño plant.  Plus two dill (for pickles) and two luffa vines.  Three of the onion seeds sprouted plus I have five onion starts that I got from the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange booth at the Mother Earth's News Fair in Belton in February.  And for fun I started three each Erlene's Green cotton and Nankeen brown cotton. The biggest crop I started was corn - 42 corn seed/kernels.  And that brings me to this morning when I transplanted twenty-one 6-8 inch corn stalks into my backyard veggie bed.  There are 11 more that have sprouted but I want to wait until they're little larger to transplant them, maybe in a week or two.  Funny thing is, I only have room for those 11 - if the other ten come up, I don't know where I'll put them!

I realize this sounds rather puny for a spring vegetable garden, but I only have about 170 square feet to grow anything in and that's divided into four beds.  I've spent hours and hours trying to figure out where everything will go, trying to keep plant families together and not putting any specific veggie where it was planted last year.  I'll direct seed carrots and radishes next week when I have their bed ready to go.  And I'm going to have to grow my potatoes and peanuts in containers since there's no room for them anywhere else.  I suppose I'm fortunate that the Kentucky Wonder green beans didn't sprout! 

I'm excited about this year's garden.  Currently I work just three days each week so I should have plenty of time to keep up with it, 'should' being the operative word.  This is my training, for when I have my 2-3 acres and have a much larger garden.  I need to know not just how to do this, but that I CAN do this.  This year will tell, and since I hope to have my land by summer of next year, I hope it all works out.

My next post will be about the other veggie beds and what's in them.  Until then, never give up, never surrender, and may all your dreams come true.