Time to mulch...

So...plants are pretty well established, I think it's time to start mulching. My trouble is finding the right mulch. I plan to put down newspaper first (at least between the rows). My hope is to find hay at a reasonable price that does not have any pesticides or herbicides sprayed on it. I'm not confident that I'll have a lot of luck. The city I live near offers free mulch, but it's made from grass clippings that I can only assume have herbicides on them. Another possibility for me is to raid the woods by my house for leaves, but I think it will be a lot of work to get enough of them, and I think I will need to shred them so they decompose better and don't blow around. Figuring this out is one of my jobs for the day.

Another task for today may be to harvest the first strawberries! They weren't quite ready last night when I looked, but I think today is the day. I took this photo a few days ago.

Yesterday I planted some marigolds around the garden--they keep a lot of garden pests away.

Lettuce garden

Here's my lettuce garden (actually, this section of the garden belongs to my eight-year-old daughter, Annabelle). I have a mesclun mix in the back, then a row of bibb lettuce, some lovely spinach, and some arugula that we've already sampled. I like to let my salad greens grow a little more before I thin them--then I can eat the ones I thin out as baby greens--yum!

This romaine head is a volunteer in the location where I planted it last year. I didn't plant any this year and now I'm regretting it because this one looks so lovely (and lonely). Oh well, it's almost never too late to plant more lettuce...

Almost finished planting!

I spent a lot of time in the garden yesterday. I got the beans, melons, pumpkins, zucchini, and spaghetti squash in. Today, I plan to plant cucumbers, herbs, and flowers. The main flower in my vegetable garden will be marigolds, because almost all of the veggies love them for a companion, and they keep several pests away, including the bunnies. I will also be planting nasturtiums, cosmos, and morning glories. I did not plant the potatoes this weekend as previously intended. To prepare the potatoes for planting, you cut them into smaller pieces (each with one or two eyes), and allow them to dry for a few days. I did this a while ago, and never had the chance to plant them, so they molded. I was afraid to plant the moldy potato pieces, so I've cut some more (I had only used about half of the bag the first time). I should be able to plant them tomorrow afternoon.

While I was out, I did some thinning of my lettuce and spinach--will need to do the radishes and broccoli soon as well. It is so exciting to see things growing in the garden!

We had a frost scare a couple of nights ago and I covered everything, but it didn't end up getting as cold as predicted.

Seedlings!

Tiny, little, tender seedlings are beginning to poke their fragile heads through the earth in my garden. Spinach, lettuce and radishes, oh my!

Over-wintering vegetables

This weekend I finished planting all of the early stuff--except for the potatoes. I did not cut them early enough. They need time to "scab over" so they don't rot when you plant them. I will be planting Yukon Gold potatoes. I'm still trying to find sweet potatoes and experiment a little with them. Even though the Minnesota growing season is supposedly too short, I've read a few posts online about people planting them here and in North Dakota and having some success. I would also like to try lengthening the growing season further into the fall and possibly winter as Ms. Stout did by placing bales of hay over her potatoes to keep the ground from freezing.

I need to do some more research on over-wintering plants. I know someone who over-winters garlic here, and my carrots that were not successful (I thought), last fall were still in the ground this weekend when I went out to plant. I picked and tried them and they were fabulous! I expected woody, tasteless carrots, but they were great!

Seeds are in!

Yesterday, I planted my lettuce and spinach (a mesclun mix, arugula, a bibb lettuce, and a nice flat-leaf spinach), tri-color carrots, deep red beets, little red radishes, and climbing peas against the fence. The kids helped a lot and we had fun, but it was pretty windy and chilly out.

Today is much nicer, and I just finished planting broccoli and cauliflower. After lunch I'll be putting in my perennials: asparagus and rhubarb. I'll need to do a lot of soil preparation in that area, because I haven't planted there before.

Rather than till this year, I'm just digging and raking only in the rows where I'll be planting, not in between. I've reserved some space for pumpkins and squash against the fence on the south side, for cucumbers on the east side, and some middle space for melons, herbs, tomotoes, etc.

I can't plant the potatoes yet today, because I didn't prep them early enough. I just cut them up this morning, so I'll have to wait a few days before putting them in the ground. When I do put them in, I'll reserve space between the rows for bush beans. I've discovered in my research that they are excellent companion plants--chasing away each other's enemy bugs.

In two more weeks I'll put in the warmer weather vegetables, and then I'll start the mulch. Hopefully, next year I won't need to do all of this digging because of the thick, year-round mulch.

Ready to plant!

Yesterday I bought seeds and I'm all ready to plant them today. I live in Minnesota (hardiness zone 4), and we're not past the safe date for the last frost, but I'm just going to plant my early stuff. I have peas, carrots, radishes, beets, potatoes, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, asparagus, and rhubarb (the last two are perennials that I'll be planting to harvest in subsequent years).

I've also purchased seeds to start for the flowers I'll be using in the garden. I'm going to plant marigolds around the potatoes and tomatoes, because marigolds discourage the bugs that prey on both plants. I'm also using cosmos and nasturtium because they attract beneficial bugs. I always plant morning glories in front, to climb up the fence on the side of the garden that faces the house, just because it looks pretty. I don't think I'll plant any of these outside today, I'll just start them indoors.

I couldn't find seed potatoes for sweet potatoes. I've never planted sweet potatoes before, but I just love them and was planning on putting some in this year. The woman at the garden center said they never get them in and she thinks it's because our growing season isn't long enough for them. I'll have to do some research. Ruth Stout wrote that she harvested potatoes throughout the winter in her New England garden, by placing bales of hay on top of them to keep the cold out. I think I want to experiment a little with this. If only I could find sweet potatoes...

Planting planning

This weekend I plan to start planting the early season plants: carrots, lettuce, spinach, radishes, potatoes, beets, broccoli, cauliflower...

I'll be shopping for seeds this afternoon. I'm not planning to till this year; I am just going to dig a little in the areas I'm planting to loosen the soil up nicely. I can't wait to start digging in the dirt!

Obsessing...

My husband, Mark has accused me of obsessing about this, but I shrugged it off--after all, it's Spring and I'm a gardener (albeit, not a very good one). I now fear he may be right. I've just spent the past half hour making a plan in my Excel garden plot spreadsheet--complete with little shapes to represent most of the plants...

Out with the old...

Yesterday morning was spent removing last summer's old, dead weeds from my strawberry patch. There is more work to do. I am looking forward to not doing this next year.

Today I have some time off to begin planning my garden plot. A few weeks ago, I created a spreadsheet in Excel that I can reprint any time I need it and draw out my plan to scale. I need to decide what to plant, where to plant it, and what to start early. I've been saving the plastic boxes from berries and salads to start my seeds. I think it will work well because the clear plastic covers will help to keep heat and moisture inside and get the germination process going. I have a lot of research saved about companion plantings, so I will use that information to decide what goes where in the garden. Last year, I planted potatoes for the first time and wasn't bothered at all by potato bugs, because I planted a marigold between all of the potato plants.

I also need to do some calling around to find a good hay source...

Garden Variety Spring Fever

It is officially Spring and I have serious spring fever of the "garden variety". Earlier this spring, I ordered a used copy (it is out of print), of Ruth Stout's No-Work Garden Book. I was inspired. Every year I start out excited about the garden and I can't wait to get my hands dirty, but the weeds start to get me down by about mid-June. I know people who claim to love weeding...I think they are mentally ill.

Ms. Stout claimed she never weeded--just threw down a little more mulch on top of the few weeds that would come up threw her (initially) 8 inch thick barrier of hay mulch. What's more, she said she never had to water! That essentially means I can take a vacation without having to hire someone to come and weed and water. It also means it's more ecologically responsible. Planting an organic garden is great anyway, because there's nothing more local than your own yard, but not having to water would make it even better. I'm excited to see how it works. My husband and father are doubtful, but I have a lot of hope for this year's garden. I will report the results of my experiment here.

Right now, I'm searching for the best source for inexpensive hay. Until then...