spring has sprung!

It seems like somehow every year I get to the first part of April and realize I am already late getting the garden started.  Even after 5 years in the south, I still haven't adjusted to the early and mild spring weather.  On top of that the last two springs have been downright hot!  Well turns out this year we dodged a bullet. 

two inches of hail on my back deck!

Last night we had a hail storm like I've never seen before.  My hibiscus took quite a beating but luckily my veggies were still safe under cover waiting for me to finish prepping their bed. 

expanded raised bed, prepped and ready!

This year we want to use the irrigation system in the back yard for the lawn.  Since it's piped to grey water, we don't want it for watering vegetables.  So, Matthew helped me consolidate the two round raised beds into a single oval in the back.  I'm actually really happy with the change.  It could probably use even more soil than we packed into it today but I think we'll be happy we left room for mulch when the summer gets hot!

Carson was the mvp of the day, helping me carry all those bags of soil and compost around the house and filling in the bed.  He also learned an important lesson about handling sharp garden tools and the importance of wearing gloves.  After a short break for a quick band-aid, we got right back to work!

Even with the hail last night, I feel like it's late for cool season crops but we went for it anyway.  New this year is the addition of brussels sprouts.  I'm really excited to see if we can get a good harvest out of the garden.  Matthew and I recently discovered that we really like them roasted so I hope I can put a good bounty on the table later this year.  I went with seedlings on the lettuce this year.  I had such a hard time getting the seeds to sprout last year that I wanted to at least have a few sure bets.  We went with Romaine and Buttercrunch.  I'm giving broccoli another shot this year.  So far I've had dismal results but I'm hoping with a better location and the raised beds we'll do better this time.  Finally, I added some onions, cucumbers, and bush beans -- same varieties as last year.

spring planting, almost finished

I'm leaving room for some peppers when it gets warmer.  I also have some garlic to get in at some point.  I'm also counting on adding Nasturtium, dill, and marigolds to aid in pest control.  My biggest struggle in keeping this garden organic is in pest control.  I'm still trying to find anything that will actually work.

Keep an eye out for the container update... I'm working on some improvements for this year.

man down!

I did not solve the moisture problem in the potato buckets fast enough to save the inhabitants :(

We managed to get a tiny handful of baby sized red potatoes from the first bucket before it died completely.  Matthew and I enjoyed them with our hamburgers for dinner last night :).

The white potatoes in the other bucket (below) haven't died as quickly because I got them dried out a little faster, but still not fast enough to save them.  As they wilt and die, I hope we'll get some young potatoes anyway.

the remnants of the potato experiment

Next year, I know what to do... keep the potatoes dry!!!

a work in progress

A snapshot of my back garden, look at the beautiful strawberries!  The strawberries have thrown out runners all around the base of the pot and we've decided to let them go as they will.  It's funny to see the little plants popping up through the mulch at random with a strawberry or two that seem to be coming out of nowhere.

I started adding mulch all around the pots and planted areas.  It's really helped cut down on the weeding and tracking dirt all around.  Dirt was splashing up onto the buckets and they just looked terrible.  Also, I have a confession to make: I have applied visual management (as in, LEAN principles) to my garden.  For you non-LEAN followers, that means I am the biggest dork you know.  Anyway, I color-coded the mulch to distinguish between walk-ways and garden beds.  Seriously, it has actually helped by keeping the boys from running through the garden at full-tilt and squashing my poor little seedlings.  I plan to just keep adding a few bags here and there over time until the whole area is finished.

The first bucket is home to the carrots.  This is the one that always seems dry.  Once the seedlings are a bit bigger and I've thinned them out, I will add some black mulch on top to help lock in the moisture and keep the weeds at bay.

Next you can see the two squash buckets.  One houses the summer squash, zucchini in the other.  Last year, I lost all of my squash to squash bugs.  I really, REALLY, don't want to use chemicals in my garden.  Therefore, I am trying out a few natural methods of control.  The first is the buckets... supposedly the bugs have a hard time finding the plants if you have them up off the ground.  I've also moved the location across the yard from last year's site.  Finally, I've planted Nasturtium near by and I will plant some Dill right in the container with the squash.  Wish me luck!

The large raised bed is where I've got the beans and cucs.  Amazingly, every single seed I have put in this bed has sprouted.  Unfortunately, it's also where the fire ants decided to make their home this year.  I hear that you can kill fire ants with Sweet&Low so I'm trying that method and hoping for the best.  I am growing all bush varieties so I don't need to trellis any of them.  I'm also planting at intervals to extend the harvest.

Behind the raised bed, you can barely see the trellis... Carson's kidney bean and a vine-variety of cucs will live there.

Way in the back - that's the onion/garlic/shallot bucket.  I'm excited about cooking with some fresh onions and garlic!

Off to the side live the peppers and broccoli.  Last year, my broccoli bolted.  This year, I direct-sowed seeds instead of transplanting seedlings.  I don't know if it will be better, but I'm happy so far.  I replaced the dead bell pepper with a random new variety from Lowe's.  It's called 'Gypsy' and it should be a sweet pepper.  I am worried that the peppers may not be getting enough sun.  I'm also worried the ants may be eating the leaves.

my herb garden



rosemary, summerlong basil, sweet marjoram, greek oregano, thyme, sage, and nasturtium

 I finally received the herbs I ordered from Burpee's so many months ago!  I searched high and low to find a suitable strawberry pot to put them in.  I'm very happy with this pretty green one I found at Fairview garden center in Cary.  Next, I want to get a nice plant stand to set it up off the ground and next to the back door.

I cut back a few of the spindly looking plants.  I need to do a little more reasearch on the correct way to snip each type of herb so I can keep them productive and healthy.  I actually think I need to be more aggressive in harvesting my herbs.

In the background, you can see part of Matthew's flower bed.  Next to the pot is our potted mum.

garden chores

Today it is sunny and ~ 75, no rain but the ground is very soggy.

Herbs

• planted them in the strawberry pot a few days ago, look good so far
• a few pockets have settled so I added some more soil

Potatoes

• these guys are growing like crazy!  I will need to hill them again soon.
• the white bucket stays very wet, need to keep my eye on it

Strawberries

• first red fruits were already eaten by pests :(
• need to build a secure structure for the anti-pest netting

Carrots

• the bucket always seems dry on top
• sprouts are filling the bucket but they seem so small still?  I wonder when I should thin the seedlings?
• the side planting is much bigger (of course they were planted several weeks earlier)

Bucket #2 (future squash)

• looks sunken in, i'm concerned about the self-watering setup collapsing
• so far I've planted several rounds of four seasons lettuce with no luck, not sure what the problem is

Bucket #3 (future squash)

• has settled a little but no where near as bad as #2
• good results with the heatwave lettuce :)

Peppers

• hot/sweet bananas look somewhat damaged from the frost but recovering
• 2 bells from Burpees look good but the 3rd one is amost dead :'(  -> need to look up the guarantee info

Beans/Cucs

• fire ants have moved into my raised bed :(
• several sprouts are up... made a huge seed planting a few days ago too

Garlic

• just found out I probably planted the garlic wrong.  I planted the whole bulb... it's growing though
• today, I gave up on the romaine lettuce and put the 2nd garlic clove, split up, in that spot

Onion/Shallots

• look to be growing well, but they are reaching for the sun.  I've rotated the bucket a few times to help.

Asparagus

• I had almost given up but two baby stalks were poking out of the soil today!

Spinach

• seem to be growing well from seed, but really slow
• still no edible harvest

a beautiful day in the garden

Today was a beautiful day to be gardening!  Here is a photo collage of all my wonderful veggies and Matthew's new flowers... enjoy :)



red potatoes

strawberry blossoms :)



 


lettuce



carson's goldenrod



  

 


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chinese cabbage



nasturtium



 



first carrots



flower bed

 

 













matthew's flowers







awe...

 

spinach

swiss chard

onions, garlic, shallots

beans and cucs

asparagus

banana peppers

carrots

russet potatoes

red potatoes again



buttercrunch lettuce





  



a little maintenance

The weather of the past few days has certainly taken it's toll.  With all of the rain we've been having, I learned a valuable lesson about my container design -- must install drain holes for overflow!  Now I know why my potatoes have been so soggy... no where for the extra water to go!  It was easy to fix in my double buckets, but with the barrels I had to just make a guess.  I just hope I didn't drill the holes too far down.

My pepper tent did not hold up to the fury of the wind.  I think it still saved them from the worst of the freezing and frost, but I'm afraid they're still showing some signs of cold damage.  Only time will tell if it's too much for them to recover from but I'm pretty sure I should plan on putting in some back-ups just in case the harvest is affected.

Next issue, one of my potato buckets collapsed.  The PVC rings in the bottom did not stay glued to the bottom bucket.  This caused the soil in the "wick" to flow out into the water reservoir creating a sink-hole.  The soil and potatoe that were above the part of the bucket collapsed into the reservoir.  Well, that's what I get for not letting the silicone adhesive cure long enough.  So I've torn the whole thing apart, dried it out, glued it back together, and now I'm letting it properly cure.  I think the potato that was in the sink hole will be ok.

On the brighter side, good things are happening with the lettuces, spinach, and carrots.  The broccoli has come up with it's cute little leaves and the strawberries are in full bloom.  I'm still waiting for some action from the beans and cucs.  I planted a few more seeds today.  Also, still no signs of life from the asparagus or the ceasar lettuce.  I put in another few inches of seed in each of the lettuce, spinach, buttercrunch, four seasons, heatwave, and carrots.  I'm hoping this will set me up for a nice continuous harvest later in the summer. 

:)