The Master Plan 2011

Layout

Instead of rows this year, I'm doing beds and making them densely packed.  I'm also doing a smaller garden this year.  A total of 4 beds side by side, 2 feet wide by 12 feet long, with 3 feet of hardwood mulched path between each bed and around the garden.

Watering

This year, instead of soaker hoses, I'm using sprinklers.  The soaker hoses break and leak too easily, don't lay exactly where you want them, and only water a narrow area.  Some parts get soaked, some stay dry, and it takes just long enough to water that you forget to turn the water off in time to avoid flooding the garden.  Soaker hoses beat hand watering, but I wanted to try an alternative this year.  Since a single sprinkler doesn't quite cover the full garden area, I'm using 2 sprinklers.  One between the first two beds and the other between the last two beds.  It seems to be quick, easy, and effective so far, with the only downside being that the placement of the sprinklers needs to be adjusted based on wind speed and direction at watering time.

Fencing

So I thought the fence didn't do much last year because the rabbits could squeeze through and hop over.  However, since the peas, spinach, and lettuce have already been decimated this year and I've been forced to replant, I am seriously rethinking my no fence decision.  Stay tuned.

Companions

In Bed 1 we have a double row of peas (1/2 pound Early Frosty, in keeping with tradition) climbing a 12 foot long section of (ironically) rabbit fencing.  On either side of this double row is spinach, planted about 4" apart in each direction to fill the bed, and with beets and turnips interspersed.  I planted this year's Bloomsdale Longstanding (one packet was not enough) on one side of the fence and last year's Melody Hybrid on the other.  Beets are Baby Ball and turnips are last year's Purple Top White Globe.

In Bed 2 we have half the bed devoted to zucchini (Garden Spineless) to be interplanted with nasturtium, and the other half of the bed reserved for bush lima beans.  I went with Fordhook 242 (1/2 pound), although it was a close call between those and the Burpees Improved Bush variety.

Beds 3 and 4 each have two rows of corn (Argent, rows 1 foot apart), intermingled with head lettuce and leafy greens.

Bed 3 includes Paris Island Cos Romaine (transplanted) and Swiss Chard (Large Ribbed Dark Green, direct sown).

Bed 4 includes Buttercrunch (transplanted) and Mesclun Salad Mix (1500 seed packet containing arugula, endive, buttercrunch, black seeded simpson, grand rapids, and prizehead lettuce), with a few feet devoted to last year's collards instead of mesclun.

And in the flower bed out front, surrounding the trees, I planted strawberries.  24 plants of the Everbearing Quinault variety.  Purchased cheaply as roots from Wal-Mart.

Seeds and Seedlings

We took the pilgrimage to Rohrer Seeds in Pennsylvania on Tuesday. I picked up all the seeds I wanted. Ann and I will share her packet of zucchini seeds and my packet of Italian tomato seeds.

That morning, I decided to add pole beans to the roster. I'll split a row between herbs and pole beans after the peas and spinach clear out.

I also decided to grow Melody Hybrid Spinach instead of Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach because I prefer the kind that is more smooth and less ruffled. The pictures on the packets made this clearer than the descriptions did.

Instead of Amish Paste tomatoes, I decided to go with San Marzano tomatoes, described as the original Italian paste variety. The authenticity appeals to me for making spaghetti sauce. I've been really enjoying the homemade spaghetti sauce I canned last year. Inconveniently most of my batches of spaghetti seem to take 1.5 quarts instead of an even 1 or 2. I'm considering making batches of pints this year instead so it'll take an even 3 jars.

On the trip, I also bought 2 dozen purple pansies to line the front walkway. I'm gradually hardening them off between the garage at night and outdoors in the sunlight during parts of the day.

This afternoon, during Matthew's naptime, I started some seedlings: 27 tomatoes, 9 eggplant, and 9 parsley. Some of the tomatoes I'll share with Ann, and some are extras in case they don't all sprout. I'm using a plastic Jiffy Greenhouse that has 72 tiny cells, probably an inch across each. Because they're so small, I'll need to transplant the plants to other pots later, probably peat pots. But in the case of the tomatoes at least, that'll make for stronger plants, because I can bury some of the stem each time they get transplanted and produce more roots.

It should be time to plant peas and spinach in a few weeks, but I heard today the Farmer's Almanac is calling for a worse March than January and February. That would be impressive considering the blizzards we've had already this year. We shall see.

All in all, a good week for the garden so far. Total seed price: $43.95

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.

Gardening Update

I've been busy lately, speaking at a conference, photographing a wedding, so I've gotten a bit behind in the weeding... and in the reporting on my blog. So, here's where things stand in the garden.

The fence is working GREAT! Things are growing without disappearing. I've got lettuce and spinach ready for harvest, the peas are growing tall and flowering and I even see a few pods forming.

I planted both varieties of corn on May 12, once the rows of black plastic and black fabric were down, and then I planted carrots and spring onions on May 13. I hadn't planned to plant these, but I had a bit of space in the row of spinach so I bought some 50 cent seed packs and stuck them in the ground.

The seeds are from American Seed.

Carrots - Danvers Half Long - Very uniform, heavy-cropping carrot 7 to 7 1/2 inches long. Flesh is bright orange, tender, and sweet. Excellent for table or freezing. (70 days). Sow in well worked, stone-free soil, after danger of heavy frost (April-June here). Thin seedlings when they are 2-3 inches high with the final spacing of the plants 3 inches apart. Thin ruthlessly; they need room to grow. Water lightly as too much water can cause cracking.

Spring Onions - White Lisbon Bunching - A mild green onion. Tops remain fresh and crisp well after harvest. Green onions are not suitable for winter storage. (60-75 days) Sow in a sunny location after danger of spring frost (April-June). Thin to 1" apart when 3-4" high.

The corn is already well established. Hurrah! No sign of carrots or onions yet, but I'm waiting patiently.

Another Shopping Trip at Kingstown

We bought the manure and the soaker hoses at Kingstown Farm Home and Garden, one of my favorite places to buy gardening supplies. Yesterday, Matthew and I made another stop there. We got a pair of pruning shears that I'll use to cut back last year's dead growth in my flower bed, and probably for other things too.

I also got a packet of pansy seeds. If I can get away with sowing them directly in the garden, I can get more plants for 1/10 the price. The packet I got says you can plant the seeds outside 2-4 weeks before the last frost.

Uh, we'll call the last frost date April 15 - tax day. Which means I can plant them anytime! Maybe even today. Ann says it's lovely weather out. 60 degrees. :)

Packet for the Pansies says 1/8" deep, 1" apart, thin to 4-6" apart when 1" tall. Emerges in 10-20 days. Hopefully they'll do well.

Seed Varieties

In February, I made the pilgrimage with my inlaws to the "seed store" in Pennsylvania, perusing their catalog on the ride up and deciding what varieties to buy of the types of veggies I already knew I wanted to grow. Our source? Rohrer Seeds

The following are the seeds I have bought for my 2009 garden except for the peas and spinach I already mentioned ($0.99/packet each), along with their descriptions:

Argent Sweet Corn (1/4 lb, $3.99)
se 86 days. This white version of Incredible has large 8 to 9 inch ears with excellent sugar enhanced quality. Argent may be the best introduction of sweet corn to come by in a long time, possibly overtaking Silver Queen and Silverado.

Seneca Snowshoe Sweet Corn (1/4 lb, $5.59)
se 65 days. This exceptional high quality sugar enhanced sweet corn boasts bright white color, creamy texture, delicious eating quality and good cold germination and seedling vigor. Snowshoe is the earliest white, sugar enhanced variety available. Stalks grow 6 1/2 ft. tall and produce ears 71/2 in. long.

Bush Jubilee Watermelon (Pkt,$0.99)
95 days Productive bush type melon producing 11-13 lb. oblong fruit. Rind is light green with dark green stripes and flesh is dark red with a very high sugar content. (approx 30 seeds/pkt)

Garden Spineless Zucchini (Pkt, $1.79)
53 days. Great home variety producing 7-8 inch long, dark green smooth skinned squash. Spineless open plants make harvesting easy without getting scratched. (approx 15 seeds/pkt)

King of the Garden Lima Beans (2 oz pkt, $1.29)
(Best Seller) 88 days. A lima bean of superior quality when compared to any bush lima. A vigorous grower producing big crops of large green pods filled with 5 or 6 large, white, flat beans. Treated Seed.

Kentucky Blue Pole Beans (2 oz pkt, $1.99)
58 days. A 1991 All-American Selection Award winner. Combines the flavor of Kentucky Wonder with the enhanced sweetness of Blue Lake 274. pvp

Gourmet Mixture Lettuce (Pkt, $0.99)
Four of our highest quality lettuce varieties combined in one to give you a chefs blend of gourmet salad. Attractive red, dark green, light green and apple green blend of lettuce for all season use. (approx 2000 seeds/pkt)

I can't wait to see how these varieties do in my garden!

Cow Manure, Peas, and Spinach

Last week, I spread 800 pounds (twenty 40-pound bags) of cow manure in my new 20' by 20' garden. Bill tilled it in for me. So I was ready to begin planting this weekend.

Yesterday I planted a row of Garden Peas and a row of Spinach, both from Rohrer Seeds in Pennsylvania. The peas are Early Frosty (64 day maturity, 24 inch height). The catalog description reads:

64 days (24 in.). Our most popular home garden variety produces
uniform, dark green blunt pods tightly filled with delicious peas. Wilt resistant variety with excellent yields, vigor and freezing quality.

I hadn't intended to plant spinach. But I had space, and lots of leftover seeds from Ann and Bill from last year. And I noticed they could be planted early (March 15-August 15) and matured quickly (48 days) so they'd be out of the way in time for my summer planting. The variety is Bloomsdale. The description reads:

Savoy-leaved. The first early, vigorous variety. Desirable for local gardens. Plants erect in growth, hardy and attractive. Leaves large, crumpled, somewhat blistered, dark glossy green.

With the peas, I'm doing a sort of experiment. Half of the seeds I planted were soaked overnight (actually closer to 21 hours by the time they got planted). One quarter were soaked for several hours (about 4). And the remaining quarter were moistened at the last moment so the inoculant would stick. I planted half the overnight seeds, then the several hours seeds, then the dry seeds, followed last by the remaining overnight seeds. We'll see if this makes a difference in the germination of the seeds.

The sprinkler I bought that's supposed to water a 30' by 30' square area barely reached 10' by 10'. I need to reevaluate my watering plans. Happily it rained quite a bit last night, and is supposed to continue raining for several days, so I didn't have to worry about an initial watering. Just so it gets warm quickly enough that the seeds don't rot before they germinate....

The forecasted weather for the next few days beginning with today is 49/38, 52/36, 52/38, 58/43, 59/36.