Early Planting

So, it's been warm, and the eggplant & parsley seedlings looked like they really wanted to go play in the garden, so I planted them yesterday. And staked the tomatoes. And planted some marigold seeds near the tomatoes & eggplants.

Today I decided it was time to plant some generic-no-name zucchini and yellow straight neck squash seeds in hills. And a bunch of nasturtium flowers in the hope of fending off the squash bugs this year. Also some basil and oregano from seed between zucchini hills.

The cantaloupes and honeydews are sprouting already, and some of the limas, but the watermelons haven't yet. Still time. And oops, I've mixed up which pots have cantaloupes and which have honeydews, so I guess I'll just have to see which plants grow which. It'll be a surprise.

That leaves the melons and lima beans to transplant and the corn to plant. Corn should be any day now. Just need to till up that area again first. Then the fall crop.

I've gotten a bit ahead of myself in outdoor planting, but so far I've been very fortunate that we haven't had late frosts. Here's hoping I don't come to regret the early plantings yet....

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.