After what seemed like an eternity of not planting things, I finally got back to planting yesterday. I had some peat pellets so I soaked them and started seeds of cherry tomatoes, green beans and zucchini in hopes of planting the transplants out in February. I also planted my strawberry roots and will hopefully have some delicious berries to munch on later in the season. I put 6 roots in the hanging strawberry planter and 3 in the garden. I can't wait to see which one produces better.
Today I planted out several of the red onion bulbs I bought. I hope these grow much more rapidly than the onion seeds I started, which after a promising start don't seem to be making much progress in the way of growth these last weeks. I wonder in our crazy weather has anything to do with that. Day to day, this winter has gone from 50 degrees to 80 degrees. My plants must be confused.
In the past I've grown vegetables, but I am always discouraged when the garden doesn't produce as much as I would like it to. At the end of every year I give up and tell myself it's not worth the hassle, I decide to take a year off, and within a couple months I regret my decision. However this year I'm going to stick to it. I'm going to amend this soil until it's beautiful and black. I'm going to practice succession planting (instead of over planting and having months between harvests). I'm reading up on companion planting and will put my knowledge to good use.
I've been on the lookout for the 20 cent seeds from WalMart again. I figure until I know more about what I'm doing I shouldn't invest too much in the garden. And if I want to try a new variety of something, 20 cents is an investment I can make without feeling guilty afterward.
I have located a source of free manure and composted manure, but now I have to figure out how to get it to my house. I don't want to stink up the van with horse poo, being that my kids will be with me and all. And there just isn't room in my husbands sedan to fit what I need.
Items I need:
A way to transport compost and manure
Potatoes to plant
More Pots, Buckets, Bins, etc. (Anything I can plant in.)
A Pitchfork.
A metal rake for leveling the soil.
Next steps in the garden:
Harvest all of the spinach, then pull the plants. For the time and space Spinach requires, the plants are small and not overly productive (and they are getting eaten by something - there are little holes all over the leaves, but no bugs/worms/caterpillars that I can find) so I'll use the space for other crops.
Plant the yellow onion bulbs.
Fertilize existing crops (compost tea foliage spray?)
On a final note, I have been able to harvest about 2 lbs of salad greens so far, which fed my family salads for 5 meals! I've got a couple radishes that look like they may be ready to harvest, but I don't want to jump the gun and yank them out if they aren't ready. Tomorrow I think I'll do it and share my bounty with my Mother.
Have a wonderful day!
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