More progress

I met with Gordon's church friend about the gardening they are doing. I'm not sure I was too much help, but she was very nice. They are trying to teach people to garden using pure square foot gardening techniques. I hope it goes well for them. Just teaching people to garden would be great.

My garden is doing well so far. I talked to the neighbors about the pesticide and was told they had not put any down yet, but would be soon. They said they would try to stay away from my garden. I guess that is all I can ask.

Pretty much everything is up now. The beans are up and looking pretty. All the root veggies are coming along slowly. The watermelon is up. I have flowers on one of the plants that Lori gave me. I'm hoping its the black krim. Now we'll just sit and wait for it all to come in.

Replanting

Today I went out and looked at all the squashes. The zuchini had 2 hills come up, butternut 3 hills, pumpkin 2 hills and watermelon none. The cukes I think had a few hills come up, but hard to tell. I replanted a hill of zucchs, another hill of butternut, all the watermelon and all the cukes. According to the moon chart it should be a good day to plant them.

The row covers came off because the wind we've had lately ripped them in multiple places. I'm really not happy with the row covers. I think its time to try something else. Today will be research for another fix. I've heard of peppermint soap, but maybe I can just crush up some mint and spray that on. Anything but the row covers.

The root crops look like they are coming up now. Either that, or uniform weeds growing. I still can't figure out what is killing my broccoli. They die near the fence, so I'm wondering if the neighbors sprayed something on their lawn and it killed my veggies. They like they're chemicals over there. I'll have to talk to them today and find out. How should I diplomatically ask if they are killing off my garden?

Broccoli hates me

All of my broccoli has died. The cabbage is ok and 4 of the 6 cauliflower look ok. I have no idea why they died. I just direct seeded some more broccoli in between the potato mounds. We'll see how it goes.

I also planted more sugar snap peas, more bush beans, beets and lettuce. None of the other direct seeded things have come up yet. I'm getting a little worried. Maybe it just needs to warm up a bit.

I also got a new stirrup hoe. I'm in love with it. It makes weeding so easy, I can't even believe it. I told hubby that I was going to leave him for the stirrup hoe. He thinks I'm crazy anyway.

Progress

Today I was out putting row covers on the squashes. I had to take 2 lengths of row cover and sew them together to get them wide enough. The zucchini, butternut and pumpkins are poking up already. The zucchini is making the most strides at this point.

It has been pretty damp lately, so I haven't had to do too much watering. The fruit trees and bushes are looking good as well. The potatoes are up and the cole crops seem to be holding their own so far. The cabbage even looks like it is starting to head up. Peas are about 12 inches long and the spinach will be ready for harvest in the next week I think.

So far we have had no animal activity. This is despite neighbors having seen them and in 1 case having their garden eaten. I'm so far attributing it to a combination of the fence and the dog.

The tomatoes continue to look a little sunburnt, but they are also holding their own, so I don't think it will be a major issue. Next year I'll have to spend more time hardening them off. Live and learn.

Sunday

It's all in. Today I planted the last 4 blueberries, and Jose and I planted the fruit trees. Then we went to the farm and got some more plants. He got a bunch for his garden. (I'm so proud) I got 6 cauliflower, 3 cherry peppers and some rhubarb. I also planted the 6 tomatoes from Gordon and my bush beans.

To top it off, we finished the fence!!! It's so nice. Everything is coming up beautifully. I still haven't decided if I'm going to plant the dried beans. I need to put in some more peas, but that is it. It all looks great. The transplants are doing really well and the seeds are sprouting. Since it is about to rain again, I don't even need to water.

Since the squashes are starting to come up, I need to get the row covers on. I also need to get some more tomato cages. We'll go to the store at some point in the next day or so. The back screen door is rotted, so we need a new one.

My little farm

This week was another busy one. I decided to plant the tomatoes and peppers this week on Thursday. They had been in the cold frame for 4 days and we are now having partly to mostly cloudy weather with rain in between. They look a little pale today, but otherwise just fine. One got broken at the ground level at some point, but the rest look ok. I think they just need some sun right now. We're supposed to get that this afternoon. The only thing left to plant is the beans. I just still need Rich to help with the fence. Maybe I can get Jose to help me.

We went and got some fruit trees yesterday. We got a cherry, peach and 2 apples a corland and yellow delicious. Jose and Jen and going to split the cost and care of the trees as well. We also got 4 more blueberry bushes for a total of 8. Jose is supposed to help me plant the trees this weekend. I'm not holding my breath. Today is just too wet, so it will have to be tomorrow.

I talked to Mom this morning. She is telling me that she never plants tomatoes this early. I think she's losing her mind. The reason that I plant mine this early is because of her. She got out her little notebook where she puts when she plants things. She had recorded for the past 7 years when she planted the rest of the garden, but never recorded when she planted her tomatoes. I'm so glad she isn't working anymore and can keep up with things much better now. My tomatoes are looking good, so I'm not really worried about it.

The zucchini are starting to sprout and the beets seem to be doing the same. We really just need some sun and warmth now.

Into the cold frame

We were supposed to get rain today and tomorrow. However, because there is apparently a front sitting on top of us, it doesn't look like it will. Instead it will be cool and windy and cloudy. I decided to put the tomatoes and peppers into the cold frame to begin their move into the garden. They will be protected from the wind by the cold frame and because it is cloudy the next 2 days they won't get sunburned. Hopefully. This is all still so new.

The rest of the garden is looking ok I guess. A few of the broccoli and cabbage are looking like they won't make it. They seem to be the ones that had 2 plants growing together that I had to pull one out of. I'm going to replant inside and add some cauliflower to the mix. They'll plant out in a few weeks. It should actually end up being a good thing. This way I'll have a staggered harvest. Nothing else is up, but I didn't really expect them to be anyway. It has been cool, so I'm thinking they'll start coming up in a few days when it gets warmer. Today should really be the last of the truly cool days. We should stay in the 60's and 70's from here on out.

Lori gave me some tomato, pepper and eggplant starts. I thought we were trading 2 plants (mine were the Berkely tie dyed) for 2 plants. Instead I got 6 or 7 tomato plants, some unidentified pepper plants and an eggplant. Since I already had too many tomato plants and nobody likes eggplant I gave 2 tomatoes and the eggplant to Nancy. I got farm eggs in exchange! Good deal to me.

We were supposed to get the fruit trees yesterday and finish the fence. Mother's day got in the way though. We had to go to Myrna's and out to eat with the whole clan. It took far longer than we had anticipated and by the time we were done I was a bit overdone. I mowed the lawn to get rid of my nervous energy and frustration instead. If Rich isn't too busy we'll get the rest done on Wed or Thurs. He's just always so busy.

Big Day

Today was the big planting day.

First this morning was potatoes. I got 5 lbs of potatoes out in 7 hills. I dug a whole put the potatoes in and just covered them. They are now in a trench with high sides. As they grow I'll have dirt to pile up on them. We'll see how it goes.

This afternoon I got all the seeds put in. I planted carrots, beets, parsnips, 3 hills of zucchini, 3 hills of butternut, 3 hills of pumpkin, 3 hills of watermelon and 5 hills of cucumbers. The Pooh helped in her own way shoving seeds into hills. Then she went over to a pile of sod and planted some zucchini in her own garden. It will probably do better than mine.

The cabbage and broccoli are doing well and the wild life hasn't found them yet. I think I'll cover them tomorrow anyway. Then again they'll probably get eaten to the ground tonight. The row covers for the squash will go on after they break the ground I think. The spinach is really looking good, but the chard didn't come up, so I planted beets in its place. The lettuce is starting to progress now that it is warming up. The peas are about 4 inches high.

Finally planting out!

I am so happy to have nice weather again. It has been rainy and cold for the last week and I've been itching to get out and plant.

In the ground went 12 broccoli plants, 6 cabbage starts, 3 basil, 6 parsley, 27 onion bulbs. We have to run off to class for the kids, but hopefully more will be planted out this afternoon. The ground is still a bit wet, but it should dry out a bit by this afternoon. My coldframe is empty! Now to get the tomatoes and peppers out of the basement. I think next week I'll start with them in the coldframe and see how we do.

The spinach is doing well and so is the lettuce and peas. The swiss chard doesn't seem to be doing anything though. I think I'll put some beets there instead. Or maybe some more lettuce. I need to put out a few more peas in the area that the little man skipped. Soon we'll be eating fresh from the garden!

Repotting and waiting for better weather

Well after all the gorgeous weather we had in the 70s last week, we have returned to reality. May 1st we had a frost down to 28. It has been cold in the 50s and rainy almost constantly. I had hoped to have enough of a break in the weather today to get the brassicas into the ground. It didn't happen.

Instead I potted up the tomatoes into larger pots 24 of them that is. Then I ran out of peat pots and space. The remaining 10 will have to wait a bit. They are getting a little big for their pots, with roots coming out the bottoms in some cases. However when I potted them up, they were definitely not root bound in any way. We'll see if they can wait another 2 weeks in their current pots. At least until I get the energy to wash out the old pots in the shed and pot them in those. The peppers are still pretty small and will be ok until plantout in their current pots I think. I'm planning to get a 6 pack of pepper plants at the farm to supplement my pepper stock. Other than that, I'm all set.

I went to the farm the other day to drool over the plants. I got some russet potatoes and onions. The potatoes got cut up into seed size and are sitting and crusting up. They will go in the ground with almost everything else on Tuesday or Wednesday when the weather improves. The kids are really excited to help plant the seeds. I just can't wait to have everything in the ground instead of in the basement, living room window and cold frame.

One last thing. The jalapeno plant that I overwintered is blooming and since I put it outside even has fruit forming on it! Jalapenos in May!