Seed Shopping List

I've been scouring the Rohrer Seed catalog in anticipation of the annual pilgrimage to their shop in Pennsylvania. Following is my current shopping list. All the seeds I need for the 2010 garden with the exception of the basil, oregano, and parsley seeds I've already bought from Lowes.

Corn	1/4 pound	Seneca Snowshoe	$5.79
	1/4 pound	Argent	$4.59
Melons	pkt	Ambrosia	$2.99
	pkt	Earli-Dew	$2.99
	pkt	Bush Jubilee	$0.99
Squash	pkt	Black Beauty Zucchini	$0.99
Eggplants	pkt	Long Purple	$1.69
Peas	1 pound	Early Frosty	$4.99
Spinach	1 oz	Bloomsdale Long Standing Melody Hybrid	$1.99 $3.99
Tomatoes	pkt	Amish Paste San Marzano	$1.79 $1.59
Nasturtium	1/2 oz	Whirly Bird	$5.99
Marigolds	pkt	Spry Boy	$1.99
Turnips	pkt	Purple Top White Globe	$0.99
Beets	pkt	Baby Ball	$2.79
Pole Beans	2 oz	King of the Garden	$1.99

From Lowes I already bought Ferry-Morse Oregano, Sweet Basil, and Plain or Single Parsley. I've started some indoors under my new grow light. Perhaps I'll be able to harvest some before the outdoor garden even gets started and freeze it in ice cube trays with a little water or oil for use in spaghetti sauce later. I've seen recommendations of 2 Tbsp olive oil to 1 cup of herbs. I'll grow some of these herbs in the garden too.

Edit 3/4/2010: I changed my mind about the varieties of Spinach and Tomatoes, and decided to add Pole Beans to the garden. The edits have been added to the table above.

Planning the Garden Schedule & Layout for 2010

Here's a rough outline of things to do for the garden and when to do them:

• Till the cover crop under - ideally mid-February, but definitely no later than mid-April. If you wait until planting time to till it under, the rotting plant matter will inhibit germination of the seeds. The mid-February target gives 4 weeks of rotting time before the peas and spinach get planted in mid-March. If the snowy weather prevents this, tilling it all up when I plant the peas and spinach should give plenty of rotting time before the warmer season veggies get planted.
• Start tomatoes & eggplants indoors - March 1 - April 1 suits both plants. Eggplant can get started as early as 2/15.
• Plant peas and spinach - March 15 - May 1, aiming early around St. Patrick's Day so I can reuse the row for herbs and bug-deterring flowers.
• Start melons, herbs & flowers inside - April 10 - May 1.
• Sow Corn May 15 - June 1.
• Sow warm season veggies (eggplants, tomatoes, melons, zucchini, herbs & flowers) outside - May 20 - June 20.
• Edit: Sow lima beans outside - June 1 - July 15.
• Fall turnips and beets - July 20 - August 15.
  

And here's a rough layout for the garden, in 8 rows from left to right:

• 4 rows corn with an early variety near the house and a later variety further away; the early variety may be replaced with turnips & beets in the fall. Because of the arrangement of the irrigation hoses, it'd be easier to re-till the closer part of the rows without disturbing the hoses too much than the further part.
• A row of cantaloupe, honeydew, and bush watermelon. I should be able to fit 4 of each type in a row.
• A row of zucchini and eggplants, possibly interplanted with herbs (basil, oregano, parsley) and bug-deterring flowers (marigolds and nasturtium).
• A row of peas and spinach to be replaced by herbs (basil, oregano, parsley) and bug-deterring flowers (marigolds and nasturtium) when done producing.
• Italian tomatoes for making sauce - 12 plants.

Note: I chose 8 rows because I can water all 8 rows with a hose splitter at the garden spigot connected to two hoses carrying water to the garden. At the garden, each of the two hoses is split with a hose splitter and connected to two drip hoses long enough to water two rows each. More rows would complicate irrigation. Fewer would limit the varieties I can grow.

End of the Season

Yesterday Dave and I prepared the garden for winter. We removed the fence, hoses, supports, and weed control fabric and mowed the weeds. Then we added maybe a dozen bags total of compost, humus, and manure to increase the organic content of the soil. We also added half a bag of pelleted lime (20 lbs) to raise the pH of the soil because last spring's soil test suggested that and we never got around to it before. Next, we tilled it all in, going over everything twice to mix it well, and raked a bunch of remaining weeds out with a grate pulled by a tractor. Finally we spread a bag of "Garden Blanket" over everything and watered the whole area. Garden blanket is a mix of enough crimson clover and alpowa wheat seed for a 3,000 square foot area. It's designed as a cover crop. I got it at Kingstown garden store for around $10. The clover will fix nitrogen as it grows and both clover and wheat will help aerate the ground and keep wind and rain from washing away my good topsoil over the winter. Then in spring, I'll till it all under, providing extra organic matter for the growing season. I need to read up to double check how early I need to till it under so the decaying organic matter doesn't inhibit germination, but on whole it should really help improve the soil.

Tomatoes, Watermelon, ... and Doves

Yesterday was opening day for dove season here in Maryland, and I harvested 6 with my 20 guage shotgun. That's double my previous personal best. On top of that, it was a perfect day for sitting outside in a corn and sunflower field for four hours: nice breeze, beautiful skies, not too hot or cold.

And, when we got done, since I was already outfitted for tall grass with plenty of tick protection and planning a thorough de-ticking (actually didn't find any which surprised me), I harvested my second big batch of Italian tomatoes. Yes, they are rather overgrown with weeds... thus the relevance of the tick protection. But the great part is, I harvested around 400 tomatoes - two big dishpans full. Tomorrow it'll be a big squeezo-ing, spaghetti sauce-ing, and canning day for me. I expect I'll probably get 3 gallons or more juice out of them for another 6 or more quarts of spaghetti sauce. A good tomato year. :)

Today I watered everything and miracle-growed the watermelons. Also picked two gorgeous watermelons. The one I got earlier was 14 pounds. The ones from today were 17.2 pounds and 12.6 pounds. Best of all, there are still six more out there that I can see: two small and still growing, two medium, and two large almost ready to pick (the tendrils are beginning to dry out, but aren't quite there yet). I love watermelon, but I'm glad they're spacing themselves out a bit so we can enjoy them over a longer time period. And I still see some flowers, so who knows, there may be even more in the future. :)

Harvesting Tomatoes and Watermelon

Last Tuesday I harvested 230 tomatoes. Thursday I squashed them into more than 3 gallons of tomato juice, and Friday I made and canned spaghetti sauce. I got 6 quart jars of spaghetti sauce total. And today there are a bunch more ripe tomatoes. Didn't get a chance to pick them yet though.

Today I harvested my first ripe watermelon. It was fourteen pounds and super delicious. I'm saving some seeds, though I'll have to do some research on whether watermelon can cross pollinate with zucchini or pumpkin, and whether the cantaloupes Ann grew are close enough to cross pollinate with my watermelon. I see 7 more watermelons out there. At least one looks ripe, with the curly tendrils turning brown. The others look like they need at least a little more time. Can't wait to eat more watermelon!

Peas and Spinach

About a third of the row of peas came up beautifully. The other 2/3 came up sporadically. Today, I planted peas in some of the gaps and spinach in others.

Why peas and spinach together? It seemed as good a place for the spinach as any (already tilled and all). Just now I checked to see if they're recommended companion plants, and it seems they are. The peas provide shade for the spinach. And I'd think the spinach might keep down weeds at the base of the peas. We'll see how they do together. If they do well, I may take to planting them together intentionally in the future, not just as an afterthought. :)

Harvesting Corn and Planting Peas

I got an excellent crop of corn this year. We harvested Seneca Snowshoe July 17-25 and froze a bunch on the 25th. Then we harvested the Argent from July 26-August 4 and froze the remainder on the 4th (yesterday). Snowshoe was ripe right on schedule, but Argent was earlier than expected and we finished harvesting later than we probably should have. Snowshoe was bug free and beautiful, and the earlier harvested Argent were likewise, but some of the last ones were kind of buggy. Overall, a wonderful success!

Same day I harvested the last of the corn and cut down the stalks, I also planted a bunch of peas. They should take around 63 days to mature, putting harvest time around the 6th of October... shortly before the first frost slated for (if I recall correctly) mid-October. On one hand I wonder if I'm too late and on the other I wonder if I'm too early. But it's a good experiment. :)