Thursday, February 3, 2011

When I plant, it rains

Every time! We might as well set the rain predictions by when I plan on planting seeds in the garden. And we have big, fat, heavy raindrops here which means my little seeds (like lettuce and herbs) will be washed all over the box and who knows what will sprout where!
Today I accomplished quite a bit in the garden. I started the 3 sisters box today. I planted the corn in a spiral pattern and was able to fit 88 into the box. I read that in a spiral in small gardens they have a better chance at pollinating. I'll take any better chances I can get. That may be too many, but I plan on fertilizing aggressively this year (i have lots of bunny poo), and it can't be worse than any of the other years that my corn didn't come in. I put in two small trellis' to help prop up the pole beans. I don't want them strangling the corn completely :) . Then along the edges of the box I added some squash - 3 bon bon squash (already started in containers), 2 raven squash, and I have 3 dixie squash in the containers about to sprout that I'll put out in a week or two. I'm just going to let them roam all along the pathways and in between the boxes. I don't really care for growing the squash up the nets.
I managed to identify some of the plants coming up in the container squares. The Bon Bon squash was kind enough to spit a seed casing out with it's leaves so I was able to match that up with the ones from the package. The Dixie squash seeds are turquoise so all I had to do was dig down a little bit and look at those. The tomatoes were easy, the watermelon was easy - except for the fact that I started two kinds and they both look the same right now (sugar baby and crimson sweet). The brussel sprouts are coming up and those were only easy to identify because I planted 9 squares of them. Today I planted some romaine into the containers because I didn't notice it coming up outside. And I'm not sure what it looks like when it starts. I may have pulled it out as a weed. Once it comes up in the containers I'll know if I saw it out there. I don't really use the containers to grow things for 4-6 weeks before going out. I just use them to get things started so I know they aren't a weed out there LOL. I did pull tons of more little weeds out in the boxes today. Will they ever stop coming up???

Last week I spent my energy working on the front yard. I put in lots of potted plants and its looking nice again.

Here's an overview of the backyard. Wow I just noticed how badly this side of the fence needs redoing. Oh well, working on the other side right now :) .  I've found that getting rid of the extra four beds has been such a relief. I think I can handle these five.  The one surrounded by block and covered in weeds isn't a working garden bed. I think I'm going to dig it up and line it and make it a little pond. The whole area needs a new cover of mulch  to pretty it up, but one thing at a time!
  
 In this box I have 3 tomatoes up along the top trellis. Along the west side trellis I have peas- green arrow and sugar snap. That nice little line going up the middle is broccoli, and there's a glob of radishes on the right. There are also some onions growing up by the tomatoes and some carrots between the broc & peas. No peppers coming up yet.
 This box is the 3 sisters box. Got the corn planted today, and the beans. Also transplanted those three bon bon squash that are on the far side of the box. And those three holes on the close side were for the dixie squash that haven't even come up yet so I'm not sure why I made them LOL.

And there's my update for the week. Trying to be a better blogger, and I think I can manage one blog a week :)

2 comments:

  1. I'm so envious that you're able to plant summer veggies already....I'm gonna plant alot of corn this year too, but only about 50 or so. Mine did pretty good last year, but i'll get a little more aggressive with the fertilizer this time around...Oh, and you're already doing a better job at blogging. :-)

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  2. Well, at least your gardens are watered well. LOL! You may want to try Granny's Seed Mats method to keep your little seeds in place.

    It is so nice to see green with the combination of the potted plants and the seedlings in your garden. I also love your round pavement stones in between the paths to your sfg.

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