August 2015

July 2015

June 2015

May 2015

April 2015

Peas and lettuce planted April 1st. Finally!  Planted the peas, spinach, and lettuce in bed 12 on April 1st!

 The lavender I planted in a milk jug as an experiment at the January garden class, and then  stuck out in my front yard in the snow for three months, has sprouted.  Not sure what the purpose was of planting so early.  I suspect i would have the same results if I'd planted 2 weeks ago.

Tomatoes planted March 20 are doing well in the greeenhouse April 11.

 As is the cabbage planted indoors March 2.

 And the tomatoes and basil planted March 2

 Onions went in on April 12--spent my birthday in the garden!

And the garlic is up that was planted last October.  Filled the rest of the garlic bed with onions too.

4/12:  First asparagus poking up!

 Created trellis for peas with t-posts, willow sticks and nylon netting from Burpee.

 Raspberries coming up!  I always worry after I cut them down so drastically in the spring.

 Tons of weeds coming up too...I think this is mostly pepper grass.  Got to pull it before it seeds.

4/12: The perennial herbs are all up:  chives, sorrel, lovage, tarragon, oregano.

 April 19:  Lots of  asparagus ready to pick.  Weeded asparagus bed.

 4/26: Onions are up!  (Garlic in background)

 April 27:  Herbs looking good!

 Rhubarb too!

 April 27:  Dug potato bed and planted the potatoes.

March 2015--first seeds planted, first sprouts up

Planted cabbage yesterday.  Planted early in order for cabbage heads to be ready for SAGE pig roast in August.  So good to have my fingers back in the dirt!  Also planted some parsley since it's a slow starter and some basil for a big pot in the greenhouse this spring just because I can't wait!  

2 days later cabbage has sprouted!

I must admit that somehow I once again stopped blogging at this point until July when I finally downloaded all the photos from the spring and began writing again.  So here goes--5 months of catching up on this blog:

On March 9, I visited the garden--which was snow covered!  

However, on March 13, the snow had melted, and it was a beautiful day to work in the garden.

 Raspberry canes before I cut them down.

 Raspberry patch after I cut fall raspberry canes down--didn't cut the one small clump of summer raspberries.

 Doesn't look very impressive, but I could see garlic sprouts coming up!  Spring surely on the way!

On March 16, I burned the old asparagus stalks.

 And also found several of the perennial herbs poking up---such as these chives.

After 4 inches of snow on March 23, better weather returned and on March 30 the asparagus poked up!

 and the weeds too!

Also moved all the seedling trays which I had planted March 20 into the greenhouse which I had put up March 25.

On March 31, I prepared bed 12 for the peas and lettuce, got out the tools, and pulled off all the old calendula stalks all along the east side of the veggie beds.

Garden Plan 2015

Redivided the beds, making each a little smaller (3 1/2 feet in width) in order to fit 12 beds in the garden,necessary for a 4 year rotation of 3 beds each of 4 categories of plants.  Each year each category of plants moves down to the the next quarter of the garden, not returning to the same soil for 4 years.  I'm hoping that this is a natural and wonderful way to control soil-borne pests.  Since the onions and garlic get harvested so early, sometimes an autumn planting of lettuce, spinach, broccoli, and radishes in the onion and garlic beds deviates from the plan a bit.  So fr I've not had trouble with pests on those 4 plants so I'm hopeful it will be okay.  If not, we'll have to come up with plan B!
Crop Rotation Plant Categories:
1. Beans, Peas, Lettuce, Carrots, Cabbage, Broccoli, Radish, Spinach
2. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers
3. Cucumber, squash (zucchini, summer squash, winter squash, pumpkins)
4. Onions, Garlic, Celery, Chard, Beets, Corn

Plans for 2015 include

1. Strawberry Bed: after harvest, dig up 1/2, lift landscape fabric, add manure, lay down new landscape fabric, replant strawberries grown from spring runners.

2. Blueberry bed---lift landscape fabric, add manure, new landscape fabric, plant strawberries.

(probably give up on blueberries)

. 3. Allow raspberries to continue to invade and take over grape bed (probably give up on grapes)

(The strawberries and raspberries have been so great.  Seems a waste to use the garden for grapes and blueberries which never really produce!)

4.  Still considering 1 more apple tree and/or plum tree for southmost fruit bed.

New path through mint bed separating it from veggie bed 1.

5.  Helping to supply produce for the SAGE pig roast in August!!