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.

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!

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...