First planting of the year!

Today I planted 150 pea seeds and two rows of lettuce. The peas are organic Oregon Sugar Pod. The lettuce is an all-season butterhead mix that contains Arctic King, Bibb, Buttercrunch, Matchless, and North Pole.

The bad news is I discovered a new challenge for this year's garden: mice have taken up residence under the garden. I need to find an organic way to keep them away from my plants. Growing a garden is like raising kids...every year brings new challenges.

Today's weather:
High temp: 68 F
Low temp: 39 F
Mostly cloudy with occasional sun coming through.

Pea trellises are in!

It is a sunny 60 degrees here on St. Patrick's Day so I spent this afternoon repairing and installing my pea trellises in their 2010 garden home. I used the twine I bought the other day to resecure both joints on both trellises. (Here is a link to a post that I made last summer that includes a picture of what the trellises look like.) I rotate my crops each year to minimize the spread of disease and to replenish the soil nutrient-wise. Last summer the peas were at the northeast corner of the garden. This year they will be along the western edge. I plan to plant peas and lettuce (and maybe some spinach) this weekend.

Today's weather:
High temp: 62 F
Low temp: 36 F
Sunny and breezy

Turning over the soil, taking tools out of storage, and dusting off my blog

Yesterday was officially the first day of the 2010 gardening season at my house. The weather, for the first time, was sunny and a balmy 65 degrees. I want to do some improvements and expansions this year so it occurred to me I need to sit down and come up with a plan if I want to get everything ready before planting time. I gathered my materials around me: the new farmer's almanac, my sketch plan for the 2010 garden, several gardening books, my calendar, and some blank paper. I made a list of all the plants for this year's garden and looked up on the Purdue Extension Office website the recommended planting dates for each plant in our area. It shouldn't have surprised me, but the first planting dates are right around the corner (March 20 for peas and lettuce).

So I went outside into the garden and was pleased that the soil is fairly dried out (amazing considering the amount of snow we got in February this year). I had planted cover crops last fall: winter rye and hairy vetch. They are considered green manure which nourish the soil. So, as I'd read to do, I went out into the area I intend to plant with peas and lettuce and turned the soil. Literally. I turned it upside down so that the grasses are now underground where they can rot and send nutrients into the soil. I was thrilled to see the soil is in great shape. Very nice and healthy tilth and tons of earthworms (always a sign of healthy garden soil).

Then I got into the barn and dug out my pea trellises from last year. I had used plastic mesh stapled to the wood frames and that part was still in tact. But the twine I had used to secure the joints of the trellises had started rotting and I realized I'd used the last of our twine last fall. So I headed to Lowe's to buy some more twine. In the short time I was there, the clouds rolled in and it began to sprinkle. And then rain. Ah spring... So I never did get the chance to fix the trellises and get them set up. I am planning to do that on Saturday.

Also, I am planning to add 6 feet to the south end of my garden this year (6' X 20' = 120 sq. ft.). This will mean redoing our fencing and I haven't figured out how I am going to get rid of the grass that is there now. I'm going back and forth about a couple of different options. The truth of the matter is that it probably won't be really good garden soil until the 2011 garden, but that's okay. I'll do what I can this year.

I just love this time of year. I can't wait for the green to return.

Today's weather:
High temp: 60 F
Low temp: 42 F
Cloudy with drizzly rain.

Independence Day update

I haven't been updating my garden blog like I did last summer. I admit, Facebook is preoccupying my online time. I realized it has been nearly a month since I updated my blog so I thought it was time.

My husband is out of town and he took my camera with him so I don't have any current pictures yet. I'll get some next week. The garden is really exploding right now and you need to see the progress.

In the meantime, I'll share some other pictures I took during the month of June of various parts of the garden.

Our one broccoli plant that survived the spring has been getting bigger and bigger by the day, it seemed. I finally cut the flower off today (that's the part we usually buy in the store, for those of you who have never grown broccoli before). The one bunch I got is bigger than some I've bought at the grocery store. Anyway, here is a picture of the plant before there was much of a flower (photo taken June 16):

And isn't this a beautiful head of cabbage? (Photo also taken June 16):

Here is my 7-year-old son crouching next to the broccoli plant. You can also see some of the tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, peas, and sage. Photo taken June 21:

We've had a new visitor to our garden for most of the month of June. He is a toad that my son has named "Froggy". Photo taken June 20:

Here you can see our cabbage plant surrounded by tomatoes. I had to stake the tomatoes up as they were starting to sprawl everywhere. I'm expecting an amazing tomato harvest this year. Photo taken June 20:

And finally, here is an overall shot of the garden on June 21. It was two weeks ago and I have to tell you this photo is already outdated. The garden has grown a lot in the last two weeks. Stay tuned next week for an updated photo of the garden.

Today's local weather:
High temp: 81 F
Low temp: 65 F
Sunny today, chance of rain tonight.

Finally all planted!

After many delays, I have finally got my sweet potatoes in the ground. Whew! I can't wait for September and the harvest!

Meanwhile, here's a picture of my peas today:As you can see, they are full of pea pods that are filling up with peas. It won't be long now before my first harvest!

My corn is also up. I have 4 rows of 5 plants and they are about 4 inches tall now. Here's a photo I took today before I mulched them:

I was so excited when I went outside this morning to find several of my bean plants are poking their heads out of the ground! My cucumber plants have also grown. And look, one of my Roma tomato plants has the first blossom of the season on it!

We've had quite a bit of rain lately and a cold spell that killed my basil seedlings. Today is much warmer and nicer and hopefully the cold is behind us. I plan to replace the basil plants and then I should be set. All I have to worry about now are pests and disease!

Today's local weather:
High temp: 75 F
Low temp: 55 F
Sunny and fair

My Garden is almost all planted

I have spent the better part of the last 3 days working in my garden and I almost have it all planted. I almost said I was almost done, but garden work is never really done. Anyway, it is going to have quite a different look this year. I am adding two things I didn't have much of last year: color and height. I have planted many flowers. You can see the yellow Tickseed in the near right corner along with the red geranium and purple violet I got for Mother's Day. My chives and sage are still blooming. And I have planted Cosmos, Nasturtiums, Marigolds, Indian Blankets, Bee Balm and flowering herbs like dill and anise hyssop. Those beneficial insects will be swarming! I also have the pea trellises (you can see the peas are now half-way up the trellises I built). There are several small peas popping out on the plants and they should be ready to pick in the next week or two. I also had my 7yo son help me build the 7 teepees for the pole beans in front.

Besides the flowers and herbs I already mentioned, here's a list of what I've planted this year:

* Tomatoes - Cherokee Purple (3)
* Tomatoes - Brandywines (2)
* Tomatoes - Roma (4)
* Tomatoes - Black Cherry (1)
* Tomatoes - Golden Nugget (1)
* Tomatoes - Green Zebra (1)
* Tomatoes - mystery (1) - I forgot by the time I got it home what it is
* Pepper - bell "Big Bertha" (4)
* Pepper - Sweet Banana peppers (4)
* Pepper - Habeneros (4)
* Pepper - Jalepenos (4)
* Eggplant - Black Beauty (3)
* Peas - approx. 80 plants
* Beans - green bush "Blue Lake" (1 row so far)
* Beans - black bush "Black Turtle" (2 rows)
* Beans - green pole "Kentucky Wonder" (63 plants)
* Corn - sweet yellow "Country Gentleman" (4 rows in a block)
* Cucumber - (forgot the variety) (2)
* Beets - Tall Top Early Wonder (2 rows)
* Radishes - Crimson Giant (1 row inside pea trellis)
* Lettuce - mixture (1 row inside pea trellis)
* Broccoli - (1)
* Cauliflower - (4)
* Cabbage - (2)
* Garlic - (4)

I have to admit, I've bought Beauregard Sweet Potatoes, but they have been on the bottom of my priority list and I'm too exhausted to put them in tonight. But I will do it tomorrow definitely!

Here are some more photos I took today:
Sage in bloom.

Pea trellis with plants growing half-way up to the top. Also the sage is a lot bigger in this photo than the last one I took.

My one surviving broccoli plant. I don't know if it will produce much to eat, but isn't it pretty?

One of my eggplants. This photo shows two things I've done to organically help along my garden. First, I used bathroom dixie cups with their bottoms cut out to make cutworm collars for my eggplants. This should prevent cutworms from severing the stem at the surface of the ground while the plant is young and vulnerable. Also, I am mulching all of my established plants with grass clippings from lawnmowing. It does an amazing job of keeping the soil moist as the sun is already beating down on us. Unmulched soil is caked and cracked like concrete. But when I scraped away the grass clippings just next to the cracked soil, it was cool and moist and loamy. Perfect!

Today's local weather:
High temp: 78 F
Low temp: 58 F
Sunny and warm

My garden is ready!

Here's a picture of my garden this morning. I spent hours yesterday working in it getting the last of the mulch out (9 more bags did it, for those of you keeping track). I also dug in the last of the composted cow manure. Well, most of it. You can see in the front left bed that I got the manure spread out but it didn't get dug in. By the time I got to that point yesterday around 6pm, my back and legs were calling foul. I could barely move so I thought I should stop. I had also intended to plant my sweet corn and bush beans, but I didn't get to that yet. Hopefully I'll do that either tonight or tomorrow night.

The large yellow flower is actually my collard greens leftover from last fall. They are about 5 feet tall now and covered with pretty yellow flowers. Just behind them are a couple of chive plants that are full of little round purple blossoms.

Also, in this picture you can see how my peas are growing right up the mesh on the trellises just the way they're supposed to. In front of this trellis is one of my sage plants. The sage is covered with purple buds about to burst open.


Today's local weather:
High temp: 66 F
Low temp: 44 F
Sunny with a little breeze