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.

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!