Busy Garden Week

Tuesday I spent 2 hours in the heat of the day weeding the part of the spinach and pea row where the rabbits have taken care of the peas, and I've decided is the best place for the lima beans to go.  The rush is that I just realized the lima beans will need to go in the ground soon.  They're about ready whenever the spot is ready.  Which means buying posts and hanging the concrete wire Bill had left over from his bean support system.

I wound up with sunburn on my thighs and on what would be the tramp stamp area from weeding bent over for two hours in the midday sun.  This serves as a good reminder that sunblock goes everywhere.

Then Dave came home early and had time to work with me in the garden.  We added mushroom soil, store bought topsoil, and slow release fertilizer to the new flower bed we're making out front.  Then we (meaning my man-beast) tilled the flower bed to be and the area of my veggie garden where the corn goes.  There was also weed whacking and lawn mowing that went on.

Today (Thursday), I planted all 4 rows of corn and Matthew helped me.  He played with the dog, he watered his feet, and he played in the new sandbox Dave built, among other interesting activities.  The nearer half of the rows are planted with the earlier variety of corn (Seneca Snowshoe) and the farther halves have Argent which matures later.

Did I mention there's a dogwood tree temporarily residing in my veggie garden?  Yeah, it belongs in the flower bed to be out front.  It's sitting where the melons will go while they grow a bit in their peat pots.  The cantaloupe and honeydew are all up, and I just thinned them to one per cup.  And the first melon is peeking out of the dirt today, hopefully followed by at least one per cup in the other three cups.  :)

I have some spare tomatoes and eggplants, and some basil and oregano still upstairs too.  Everything, except maybe the oregano is about ready to be transplanted to a bigger pot... if not to the great outdoors.  Those basil are getting big and beautiful (relatively speaking).

Melons & Beans

I just started my watermelons, cantaloupes, honeydew, and pole lima beans in peat pots yesterday evening. Can't wait to see them take off. But hopefully not too much before it's time for them to go outside. :)

Tomatoes and More

Both batches of tomato seedlings got so big so fast that the first was starting to wilt and the second was almost as big but not yet wilting. I decided I needed to start another batch just in case, and plant my tomato plants in the garden way early. So Sunday I started some more tomato and eggplant seedlings, as well as some basil and oregano seedlings. I also transplanted some lettuce Ann gave me, and filled in some gaps in the rows of peas with fresh seed.

Then yesterday evening, I planted a dozen tomato plants in the garden. I've filled some milk cartons with water and sat them near the plants to act as a heat sink to collect heat during the day and release it at night. I'm collecting more milk cartons so that if a frost is coming I can cover each tomato plant, and I need to get tomato stakes soon.

It has just gotten to be time I could start my melons, but now I'm paranoid about starting seedlings too early, so I'll probably wait a bit.

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.