Garden Journal

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Last Saturday was a busy garden day. It rained in the morning, so I worked on some prep stuff.

I am still trying to find the best way to mark off the squares in the garden, and so far I've had the best luck with string. Last year the string got all muddy and difficult to see; this year I got some fluorescent pink surveyor's string that contrasts nicely. I tied the string to those 1 foot long bamboo stakes and stuck the stakes around the perimeter at 1-foot intervals, so now I've got a nice 1-foot grid. This year I got really obsessed and drilled holes in the stakes to poke the string through, instead of looping the string around the top lasso-style. As I was running the drill, I thought I cannot believe I am doing this, but I'm glad I did -- the pink string tends to come unknotted, so what I did was just poke each end of a 4' length of string through one of the stakes, tie a knot, and then fix the knot with clear nail polish. I felt very ingenious, and laying out the grids went very quickly. Now my gardens look like archeological digs with those string grids, but that's okay.

So after I laid out my grids, it was time to plant. I direct-sowed parsnip, carrot, and lettuce. Those carrot seeds are so tiny -- what a hassle. I was also ruing making the paths between the beds a mere 18 inches -- much too small. I am planting "Short 'n' Sweet" and "Nutri-Red" carrots -- the Nutri-Reds are supposed to be extra high in phytochemicals and should be cooked. Sometime I might plant some of those carrots that are shaped like golf balls, just because they're cute.

For the lettuce I planted Romaine, loose-leaf, corn salad (mache -- I don't know how to make that little carrot over the a) and mesclun mix. I had also tried starting lettuce from seed indoors but it got very leggy and droopy. It wasn't doing well inside at all, and I was in a hurry, so instead of carefully hardening it off I just took the seedlings and stuck them in the ground. It's been five days now and they don't look dead yet -- we've had cool rainy weather -- so perhaps my gamble will pay off.

I also planted some more garlic. I have so much garlic available for planting, I'm still trying to decide where to plant it all.

The peas I planted at the beginning of March have started to come up. Two of the three new rhubarbs have their first tiny leaf out, and the third one has a bud. I was worried that I'd planted those too early, but looks like my gamble paid off.

After I did all that sowing, I came inside and started some plants from seed: tomatoes (Brandywine, grape, and Roma) and basil (Genovese and purple) Talk about instant gratification -- all of those seeds have already germinated and are well on their way!

The other seeds under the lights are also doing well. I am delighted at how well the eggplants are doing -- they are about four inches tall now and have their true leaves. The marigolds all look good, and I have three tiny geraniums growing too. I planted some broccoli, and I need to start hardening it off. It's also looking all weird and leggy.

Our last frost date is late April to May 1 -- hard to believe it's coming up so soon. I'll be planting out marigolds and direct-sowing nasturtiums right away, and will probably plant out tomatoes and eggplants closer to Mother's Day.

The intensive organic gardening methods I'm interested in lend themselves to succession planting -- planting things close together, or one after another. For example, I put the lettuce I started indoors in the squares where I plan to put the tomatoes in another month or so. The lettuce will probably be ready to pick just when it's time to set out the tomatoes, and if not, there will be enough room for the little tomatoes for another week or so.

Meanwhile, the bulbs I planted last fall are blooming in just the choreography I hoped for: first the crocuses, and now grape hyacinth, daffodils, hyacinths, and a few narcissi. They look so cheerful. I'm looking forward to the tulips.

9 Comments

I am drooling. Around here, we are told not to plant frost intolerant plants until after memorial day.
Still, the snow is all gone and it has been raining - maybe this weeked I can get out there are at least dig up the plot.
I tried the nutri-red carrots (bought them at the store). They cook and taste like beets, and they bleed too like beets. I was tempted to melt some orange marmalade over them.....

Oh. So the last frost is actually a pre-determined date. I kind of wondered how people were supposed to know when the last frost was going to happen. I am ignorant and keep forgetting about seeds. Sigh.

The "last frost date" is based on an average of when you can absolutely count on there being no more frosts that will kill certain plants (for example, tomatoes.) So for example, I could sow frost-intolerant nasturtuims out in the garden today, but I would be taking a risk -- in the past there have been frosts in April, and if we got a frost it would kill the nasturtiums.

You can get the last frost date for your area by calling the extension society or asking at a good nursery.

After you know your frost date, you count backwards and forwards from there to know when to start your seeds indoors, plant your peas, etc.

Same thing with first frost in the fall -- it's based on an average and you can use that to estimate how much growing time you'll have in the fall.

Peony:

Not to be a smart-ass or anything, but I believe you meant archeological digs...

I'm saying this as a former archeology student, who probably has strung several miles of grid marking string in his day.

Peony,

You plant nasturtiums? I thought that we were the only nuts who actually planted the things. I have often wondered who, besides us, buys nasturtiums. They just seem to pop up, except for us they always pop up in the wrong places and don't do well as transplants. So we seed them where we want them and figure that we are weirdos, which we are, but apparently not for that!

Nasturtiums are delicious! I planted them in CA, I have a seed packet in my car but I can't figure out when or where to put them here.

Fr Johansen -- you are right, I did mean "archeological" and not "architectural." Guess the ol' neurons just grabbed the first long word beginning with "a" they found.

I am planting nasturtiums (nasturtia?) primarily because they are supposed to act as decoy plants, keeping pests away from the plants without the need for sprays and stuff. I have heard, though, that they're good in salads, and now that I've got alicia's endorsement.... :) I have also heard that the flowers can be stuffed with cream cheese, though I'm not sure how one would do that without ruining the flowers.

Anyone know any plants that repel bees, or is that laughable? We're all scared, my husband thinks he's allergic, and Davey might be.

Nasturtium blossoms are great in salads and in goat cheese rolls(better than cream cheese- just make a tile of chevre, paint one side with herbs de provence, the other with nasturtium blossoms and roll. Then do the same thing with another one, using a layer of sundried tomatoes (in olive oil), a layer of roasted garlic with thyme, and a layer of basil pesto - for extra creaminess use both goat cheese and mascarpone. And don't come whining to me about calories. It is rich and yummy. Just enjoy). I just didn't realize that people actually planted them, until we had to. They always seem like one of those things that just sort of pop up with their friendly flowers when one doesn't expect them to. Then you take them for granted. All of a sudden we wanted them where we didn't have them! I was shocked. I thought they grew out of thin air, and all one had to do was remove them from where one did not want them. I was wrong!


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