April 25: Wonderful long day in the garden, finally!

This spider-like thing is an asparagus crown.  Last fall we dug up the asparagus patch because of the perennial weed problem.  Today Bill refilled it with a truckload of beautiful black soil.  I dug the 4 asparagus crowns I had healed into bed 12 last fall and got the three I had put in the refrigerator last fall (they were moldy...not sure if they'll grow?) Actually not sure any will grow.  But I thought it worth a try.  So we have 7 crowns planted and now need to buy some others to finish planting the new asparagus bed.  But won't be eating asparagus for 3 years! In the picture below, the dark rectangle of soil is where I put in the crowns and watered them.  But the bed of new soil is much larger and will be divided into two 3 1/2 foot beds with a 2" path in the middle.    In the foreground, you can see that the rhubarb is doing really well!

 Bill and Joe cleaned up the weed pile area on the southwest corner of the garden--Joe with the tractor and bill with the rake.  Looks so great!  And will be a perfect place to have a pile of woodchips for re-chipping the pathways.

Then Joe scooped out the enclosed weed bin so we are ready for all the new weeds which we will inevitably be pulling throughout the summer!

Last week Bill planted the onions (4/17) in beds 5 and 6.  Instead of onion sets this year, Amy bought onion plants for us....a new adventure in onion growing!  Garlic in bed 7 is also doing great.

And the first peas that had been planted March 18 are finally up.  Soil today is 50 degrees F.

Greatly enlarged in this photos, the lettuce from both March 11 and 18 is up!

And some self-seeded dill coming up in the herb bed.

Raspberries are leafing out beautifully, both the ones Bill left up as canes on the east side of the patch,

 and the ones he cut to the ground on the west side.

The compost bins that eagle Scout Des Athy built a few years ago are filled with

1. composting manure

2. compost from last summer, with some extra soil from the truckload of soil on top.

3. Garden "stuff)--buckets, composter, pots, etc.   Every garden needs a place to keep "stuff."

Got the hoses from their winter storage in the "Ritz" and lacking new rubber gaskets, got myself soaked watering the garden and unfortunately, also myself.  In a brisk 50 degree F wind, that was chilly!

April 11: a few more plantings

Perennial lovage coming up!  This herb gets tough in summer, but is tasty when tender and young.

Bill has all the beds ready to plant!

 Strawberries trimmed back and fertilized with composted manure.

Bed 1:

Planted more pea and lettuce seeds, plus some lettuce that Bill and Amy grew in greenhouse.

Bed 2:

Planted beet, turnip, and winter kale seeds, plus broccoli, cabbage, and curly kale seedlings I'd started at home.

Peas, lettuces, and potatoes in and first herbs up!

Planted half row of peas, lettuces, arugula, and spinach on 3/18 and then the rest of the row on 3/28.  Soaked peas 1-2 days first to give them a head start.

Bill has been pruning the fruit trees, and cutting back the dead strawberry leaves and added composted manure around the berries.  Then he put in stakes and I added the white cord to keep feet out of the beds.  And he has 9 of the 12 veggie beds dug and fertilized with manure already!

We planted bed 11 with potatoes.  Red on the east end.  White on the west end.  

Soil was 44 degrees F at noon.  48 degrees F at 4 pm!   Temperature int he 50's today, mostly sunny and not much wind.  A great March day in the garden!

Garlic already 8-10 inches high......, planted last October.

Dug out the stalks from last year's annuals in the herb garden, Trimmed the dried thyme and lavender stalks from last year.

Several perennial herbs are already coming up:  chives, licorice mint, chamomile, lovage, tarragon, and sorrel!  It felt good to get out the little ceramic signs and hang them above these early herbs.

 Bill built a new 3' x 3' carrot box!

                                                        Rhubarbs coming up.... looks great!

Asparagus re-do

Last fall a wonderful group of collage students dug out the old asparagus bed as a service project.  This spring Bill, Jessie, and I finished the digging, ready for a truckload of soil before planting. The old bed was so infested with weeds, especially with a tough perennial grass.  We decided the only way to remedy the situation was to start again.  We have some of the old asparagus crowns in the fridge, and will buy some new.  

Seedlings!

 First SAGE seedlings up under grow lights in people barn at farm.   Bill and Amy planted these 3/13.

SAGE seedlings are happy in their new greenhouse. 

Complete with a small heater.  Temperature 57! 

 

And a few more trays of seedlings for the farm garden

getting started in my backyard (very humble "greenhouses.).

Seed viability

To test the viability of last year's seeds, I put 10 of each seed in a tray with wet paper towels.  The number that sprout is the percentage of viability.  Less than 40% I throw out.  50, 60, 70% I plant twice as many seeds.  90 and 100% I consider good as new.  The number on the paper towel following the name of the seed company is the year they were first bought.   The 2011 basil did fine!

2018 Garden Plan

2018 Garden Plan