April 11-15, 2012: Apples, grapes, and herbs!

April 11: Laid landscape fabric on grape bed and covered with woodchips.

Planted 2 new grapevines and 2 dwarf apple trees:

Nearest barn: Thompson Seedless Green Grapes (now realize these are zone 7-9 grapes--ouch!)

Farthest from barn: Canadice Red Seedless Grapes-late August fruit

Farthest north: Pixie Crunch  Dwarf Apple Tree–grows 6’-(sweeter than Honeycrisp) fruits late August

Farthest south: Pristine  Dwarf Yellow Apple Tree-grows 6’ – fruits early July

Watered everything well.

New grapes!

New dwarf apple trees!

April 12: Watered new apple trees and grape vines

April 13:  Dumped wheelbarrows of manure on ends of old tomato bed and onion bed.

Watered everything well.

April 14:  with help from Laura and Rich, we weeded herb bed and pulled up old black plastic from edges.  Mostly we weeded out lemon balm which had taken over!   That left good clumps of salad burnett, lovage, sorrel, 2^nd year curly parsley, bergamot, ornamental pink-flowering oregano, several lavender, lemon thyme, common thyme, and lots of chives.   Saw some new borage sprouts—will undoubtedly be more.  We left a triangle of lemon balm at back left corner.   And there is a great stand of tarragon in the corner of the onion bed and some 2^nd year flat parsley in the peapod bed.   I have some herbs growing in greenhouse (basil, lavender, oregano, and flat parsley—I planted rosemary but I don’t think it sprouted. The herb bed looks great!

April 15:  Raked the herb bed smoother and re-set some of the stone spiral.  SAW TWO BLUEBIRDS!! Ripped up last year’s landscape fabric from old tomato bed, dug out deep deep bindweed, spread manure, and raked smooth.   Also dug dandelions from old strawberry bed and borders.  Cut some long asparagus for Tuesday’s healthy food luncheon.  Cut and threw away some asparagus that looked bad---perhaps froze last week?  Or was damaged by my weeding, or by drought?   Watered everything well.    Flooded the blockbarn, as in ark-needed!  And tonight it is  raining hard!





April 3-10, 2012: Cold busy week, but the garden keeps growing!

April 3:  Got the greenhouse frame up, but found that one of the bottom plastic braces was missing!  

April 4:  Bill made a new wooden brace for the bottom of the greenhouse.  Jim put in 4 t-posts and wired the poles of the greenhouse to it, in order to make it wind-worthy.   I put the cover on and the greenhouse is ready for plants!

April 5: Moved 5 of the seedling trays to the greenhouse

April 6: 60 degree sunny day.  Greenhouse was up to 100 degrees!   I opened it up and temperature  fell quickly.  Weeded, Dug up, and added manure to onion patch, including digging out a few strawberries I’d put in last fall and moving them into new strawberry bed to replace three others that looked dead.  Planted 2 rows of onion plants from Gurney.  I was surprised by what arrived.  I thought they’d be onion sets like I’ve always planted.  But these were plants (thinner bulbs with green shoots about 6-8 inches tall).  Watered everything.



Raspberry patch




New onion plants, next to October's garlic planting




Zigzag strings on peapod teepees, with tiny lettuce seedlings along side of 2-3" tall peas

April 9:

Put up strings for peas to climb on pea teepees—it was trickier than when I put strings up on the fence trellis.   I ended up with a crazy zig-zag of strings going every which way!  I finally covered the landscape fabric we put in last fall in the raspberry patch with woodchips.  Weeded furthest north veggie bed, so that farm staff could move some manure down to there, in order to make room for new apples trees.  Also raked grape bed smooth and marked where new posts should be put.  Watered everything. (extremely dry spell of weather) 

April 10:  Farm staff put in posts and rails for grape trellis, and moved asparagus bed posts to make the plot larger, since there’s always been a few asparagus plants outside the corral we built to contain their summer foliage.   Unfortunately, one of the asparagus mounds got trampled—hopefully it will survive.  They also moved a lot of the manure from the apple bed down to the first veggie bed.  This afternoon, I raked the new apple bed smooth, and moved more of the manure to the yet unused far end of that bed, and filled 2 wheelbarrows with manure, hopefully to use tomorrow. 

April 2, 2012: Asparagus, broccoli raab, pea sprouts, garlic and strawberry plants!



Asparagus bed--brocoli raab on left

 

Peas 2-3" tall - need strings soon!



new strawberry bed - looking good!



April 2: Finished taking up the last of the black plastic from around the asparagus bed and raking the area smooth and pulling out the last of the weeds. Have definitely decided to extend each bed east and west to the railroad ties…no more woodchips paths inside the garden.   I think it will be easier to weed if the grass has nowhere to hide its roots.   I’ll just need to keep after it.   Also weeded and raked the area next to the asparagus bed (last year’s corn and kale beds), then weeded and raked the new bed for potatoes, south of the pea trellises.   In all cases, from RR tie to RR tie.  The peas are all 2-3” tall!   Even some of last week’s lettuce planting has sprouted—teeny tiny!  And the garlic looks really healthy.  Then transplanted 10 strawberries into the new strawberry bed to replace the ones that either died or looked like they would soon.  Watered everything really well. 

April 1, 2012: Dandelions, Bindweed, and Grass...oh my!

April 1:  Went to water but the raingauge said we got .2 of an inch last night, and that seemed sufficient, so I weeded the back of the veggie bed instead….a bucketful of huge dandelions, bindweed, and grass….the three worst weeds in the garden!  I’m paying for neglecting the back path last summer.  I pulled up the black plastic…with hope of expanded the bed rows, and then putting in a new path outside the existing one.  

March 17-21, 2012: Peas planted, seeds in flats, stawberry bed, herbs

March17: soaked peas on wet paper towels in plastic boxes overnight:

March 18: Put up 7 teepees of 3 willow sticks, each around a tomato cage.

Planted about 20 peas around each.

First two teepees (closest to barn): Burpee 2012 Organic Sugar Pod Peads (snow pea variety)

Middle three teepees: Burpee 2011 Sugar Snap Peas (these are the fat ones)

Last two teepees (closest to highway): Burpee 2011 Snowbird Peas (snow pea variety)

March 21: Dug and raked new strawberry bed, and added a little manure. 

Weeded half of garlic patch.

March 22: Saw first peas poking up through soil (80 degree temps all week)

One asparagus stalk over 1 foot tall, several others 6 “

Covered strawberry bed with landscape fabric (2 wide outside strips of 4’ fabric, and 18 “ down the middle of black plastic for a path.   Held in place with tent stakes.  Cut 3-4” crosses to make square holes for planting.

Planted 10 strawberry plants from Pat Earnest, supposedly ever-bearing, in northeast quadrant.

Plant 10 strawberry plants from asparagus patch, June bearing, in southeast quadrant.

Planted 20 strawberry plants from old strawberry bed, June bearing, in two west quadrants.

Added a little miracle grow potting soil to each and 1-2 cups water.

Then it rained!  Hard for perhaps 10 minutes.

Still need to add woodchips and get fabric tucked down around edges.

Chives over a foot tall.  Salad burnet great.  Sorrel coming fast.  Some lovage.  Some lavender. Lots of lemon thyme.  Some common thyme.  TONS of lemon balm everywhere.  Beautiful tarragon.

Also Kale volunteered in pathway and behind manure pile….and some may be broccoli raab.

Garlic about 6”, but very dry looking.  5 Blueberries look good. And 4 raspberries.

Fri and Sat, march 23-24:  Washed flats, watered with boiling water,

Planted seeds in 9 flats:

2 flats of lavender

2 flats of marigolds

2 flats of impatiens

1 flat of tomatoes

Plus broccoli (4), peppers(10), lots of basil, oregano, rosemary, cukes, watermelon(2), cantalope(2), celery(3)l calendula, peppermint, chocolate mint(2), fennel, snapdragons, peanuts, onions, green and rainbow chard, grapes from JonBoy.
((numbers mean how many of the little 2" x 5" rectangular packs were planted

Put trays in plastic bins, Covered trays with bin lids and plastic.

Sat, March 24: Picked asparagus, sorrel, broccoli raab florets and leaves (which I had been thinking was kale), chives, and fiddleheads from front yard….great supper!

Sunday, March 25: Finished weeding garlic and tarragon and the rest of the bed next to the garlic, to get ready for onion sets next week. Also weeded several pathways and herb bed of dandelions, as they are already flowering!  Then tried to weed some grass out of asparagus bed---amazingly tough stuff—ended up uprooting a huge woody asparagus root…what a tough plant that is.  Not sure what to do about weeds in asparagus patch..maybe just pull easy ones, break off tough ones, and let the asparagus and weeds fight it out.   Better than hurting any more asparagus…but what to do in future???

Mon, March 26 (cold and windy): Observed: Landscape fabric blown off half of strawberry bed! 

Tues, March 27:  planted lettuce, spinach, and mesclun in rows on each side of pea trellis.

Put landscape fabric back in place in strawberry bed, and added 20-25 buckets of woodchips to entire strawberry bed—still that only covers it 1-3 inches.  Needs more!

Watered everything.  Only lost one strawberry plant (replaced it) but several others look weak and dry.  Most look great!

Read tonight, to use vinegar to kill grass around garden..Interesting idea!

Checked seed flats---nothing yet!  Might need to add more water.

March 28:  Weeded half of asparagus bed, mostly by cutting or breaking off dandelions, bindweed, and grass…could only pull up little plants….I don’t like weeding this way, seems futile, but after uprooting an asparagus root yesterday, I think it’s the best I can do.    Also picked asparagus..yummy for supper sautéed with onions and garlic.  And picked sorrel and some broccoli raab florets for a salad on Friday.  First seeds (marigolds) sprouted in the flats I planted 3/24.

March 30:  Tomato seeds sprouted, and some others…watered all, and moved into LC!L—with all sprouted ones in lighted windows.

March 31: Weeded the rest of the asparagus bed…what a job!  Also weeded and removed black plastic and landscape fabric under that from areas around asparagus bed.  That black plastic has been down for 4-5 years and still has live roots under it(weak and pale, but living)—grass and the evil bindweed..  Then cut some asparagus to cook.  Also tried running push mower around edges of garden to cut down weeds but they were too tough….hopefully Jim will have someone weedwhack them tomorrow. 

Finally caught up here on new blog...Now hope to keep a current account through the year of what goes on in and around the farm garden.  

Beginnings of Garden 2012

Garden 2012 

(Mild winter, followed by record heat 3^rd week in March (about eight or ten near 80 degree days in a row).

February:  broke off/cut stalks from asparagus and sunflower bed.

March 11:   ordered potatoes, onions, 1 blueberry, 2 raspberries, 2 grapes, and 2 dwarf apple trees, plus cuke seeds and peanuts!

Week of March 11: Dug north end of bed 3 for peas—added manure-dug in, raked.

Cut stalks from herb garden.  See one little nubbin of asparagus coming up.

Cut chives for kitchen.
I love the garden!