Hello Spring.... are you here?

2014: A new year and another chance at a great garden. I am hoping to keep better track blogging our garden this season. I can't make any promises with our newest addition Vincent, but I will try. It's a great resource to look at for: when to start plants, what varieties we loved/hated, pests to control, and what to do or not do next year. For example we started our eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes way too early last year. Our tomatoes were ridiculously leggy and had to be re-potted twice! Our pepper not only had flowers but actual baby peppers on them. Lesson learned. Do not start plants too early, especially when we our having a super cold snowy spring.

March 8th
Onions, Broccoli, Cabbage, Lettuce, Spinach

What is even cooler this year for starting plants is our new mudroom/laundry room. Chris converted part of our farmers porch into a new space for our home. Crazily we started it in Sept/October (after doing a new roof) and Vincent came early (Nov 23). It's not finished, but the floor is tiled, washer/dryer are moved in, and the plant stand is in it's new home (next to the washer).

Can't wait for Spring!

Squashes, Beans, and Flowers

June 9th

We finally found the time and the weather was cooperating, so our squashes, beans, and flowers were planted. Chris tilled up and extended a section of our garden during the week. It made no sense not too. Otherwise the grass just grows in and needs to be mowed which is a pain. So we make promises that the garden isn't going to be get any bigger, but we will be planting blueberries and fruit trees down the road.

Cucumbers, peppers, eggplant 5/28/13

Trench town rock

Week 12 Tomatoes

This year we started our tomatoes a bit early... like a month too early. They got leggy and too tall to keep themselves upright. We were worried that we completely screwed them up this year. Do we start over? Do we take cuttings and replant them? Do we repot all 60 of the tomatoes we started?

Nope, we left them as is. Hardened them off and chose the best 20 to plant.  Normally we would dig a really deep hole, so only the top 4 inches of the plant would be above ground. But this year, we tried out the trench method.

Step 1: Dig a horizontal hole 4-6 inches deep, and as long as your plant is.
Step 2: Pinch off all but 2-4 sets of leaves
Step 3: Lay the plant down and cover with soil. Gently bend the top of the plant and support it with soil.
It's ok if it's not perfectly straight, once it starts growing it will straightened itself out.

Squash, Cucumbers, and Flowers week 9-10

Every year Chris says we should start our squash and cucumbers inside. I'm like " eh, they germinate so quickly, lets not". Then they get eaten by slugs or other bugs and we have to start them over.
This year we started them indoors. So when we plant them, their tasty tender leaves won't be so attractive to the slugs.

A bit behind on photos and blogging. The squashes, cucumbers, peppers, and eggplant are all a beautiful size now and have been moved outside to the tent. They will have the week to harden off, so we can plant them next weekend.
We planted our tomatoes on Saturday (week 12), so once I take some pictures I'll post them with how we trench planted this year.

Week 6-8 Broccoli, Cabbage, and Potatoes Oh My!

Week 5 the onions, leeks, shallots, broccoli, and cabbage started to transition to being planted outdoors. First they hung out on the porch, getting accustomed to cooler nights and a few hours of real sunshine. It's like when us New Englanders try to go somewhere warm with beaches during the winter months. Without sunblock and too much sun we burn to a crisp. The plants tender leaves also need some exposure to the sun. Too much sun = unhappy plants.
Once the plants had enough time to make their adjustment we planted them in freshly turned soil filled  with red wriggler worms.

Cabbage

Potato Towers

This year we ordered 25lb (wow that's lot) of certified seed potatoes.  Potatoes can take up quiet a bit of space in your garden and this year we decided to try out a new method. I can across this website Potato Towers through Pinterest. It's all about vertical space and wherever there is sun.

Step 1: Take some wire fencing and cut to the size you desire. Attach it with zip-ties or some other easy way you will be able to detach them later on.

Step 2: Place them in a desired location with plenty of sun and them wont tip over (via dogs, kids, etc).

Step 3: Place straw in the bottom and a few inches up the sides of the wire fencing. Then add in a nice thick layer of soil/mulch. Water. Place seed potato about 5-6 inches apart with eyes facing towards the outside of the fencing.

Step 4:  Repeat 3-4 more layers. The last layer of soil you can plant herbs, other veggies, or flowers.

Step 5: Find a handsome husband to help build your potato towers :)

The idea is that the potato leaves will grow all along the outside of the tower. When they are ready for harvest, just detach the zip-ties and dig through the soil. This is our first year trying this, so I will be interested in the results (size, yield, critters).

Re-potting Tomatoes Week 5

Chris mixed up a new batch of soil last weekend. Since the weather looked more promising with days in the 40's and nights in the high 20's, he planted Spinach and Lettuce in our Cold Frames. Over a week later and we only have lost a few, but that was due to me not opening the glass frames.  Even if the temperatures are chilly, but the sun is out you have to open the frames. The sun is so magnified that it will fry the plants.  Plus the lettuce and spinach are cold crops.

Here are some photos of our yummy soon-to-be-salads.  Also our strawberry plants are up and the snow has melted away so we can see our garlic again.

Strawberry Plant (can't wait till June)

 

Strawberry Plant

Garlic

 

Garlic

 

 I finally found some time to re-pot our tomato plants. Their stems are nice and thick and growing beautifully. I cannot wait till our 1st tomato of the season.  I think we are going to put them in the ground early this year, but will have some plastic covering to keep any potential frost from getting them.

Broccoli (such a pretty variety this year)

Cabbage

 

Onions growing nicely

Hot Peppers

Hot Peppers ready to bud

Sweet Peppers/Eggplants

Sweet Peppers/Eggplants