March 2010 Archives

We planted our seeds in their little seed starters about a month ago and how much we've already learned!

Lesson the first: Do Not Plant Corn!

Corn has a very long tap root which I completely forgot when I got all excited laying out seeds to start back in late February. Now we have tap roots going everywhere and I look forward to cutting out the plants from their plastic containers - there's no way we're going to be able to salvage the containers. Thank heavens, they're recyclable.

Lesson the second: Do Not Plant Soy!

As you can see from Dan's posts about Boris, his kind do not need encouragement. Right now, we have two huge soy seedlings that are dominating the plants around them. They are the bullies on the garden playground.

Lesson the third: Plant Slow Emergers Together!

Such as tomatoes and peppers. Some peppers have only emerged this week. The pear tomatoes I started are doing phenomenal. The heirloom varieties, on the other hand, are taking their damn sweet, sweet time. My tomatilloes on my other, other hand are non-existent. I keep insisting that tomatilloes can be planted and harvested really well in Zone 5 and all my internet research has agreed. So far, I've been proved wrong.

The Solution?

This weekend we're going to do some re-potting, starting with Boris. I have some larger containers that I think Boris and his bully buddy will love to grow into. If it survives, I may replant his little container with some more tomatoes - I've got a fever and the only prescription is more tomato seeds! As for the corn, I'm thinking of sacrificing them to the gods of spring and planting them in their little raised bed early this year. I'm about two weeks early to plant according to the Farmer's Almanac but trust me when I say I think the corn is about ready to burst its little containers.

Last weekend, I posted about Boris, a plant with wanton disregard for its peers. The next day, Boris gave me the finger. Of course, he’s a much, much bigger plant now; but for one day, he really looked like he was flipping me off.

Gardeners are like Cylons: we have a plan.

Honestly, you have to. Last summer we bought and planted without thinking too much about it. It turned out well but it could have been better. And that's what I've been obsessed thinking about for the past few months as winter raged outside.

My major concern were bugs. Last year, our vine plants (cucumber and melon, mainly) barely made it a month of being full grown before these weird gray bugs invaded and drained the life out of them. We harvested less than five cucumber and no melons due to the little bastards. Thank god I forgot to plant the zucchini. My goal this year is to try and control them without resorting to pesticides. My first thought is companion planting. This page has been a great help to me and I'm going to try as much of it as I can. There are no guarantees with companion planting but we're going to try. This year, we're planting cucumbers with radishes in hopes of deterring those nasty little beetles. The same page suggests growing yarrow in your garden as it's a natural fertilizer. We're trying to be organic (as much as we can!) so natural fertilizers are welcome.

I am also trying to persuade Dan that we need at least two more beds, if not four. We still have some weird spots around the house that a raised bed could improve the looks of. Besides, I want a bed for just herbs and a separate tea bed to plant mint, bee balm, chamomile, etc. At least this year we know how to build them!

Another item that we're going to add to the garden is more rain barrels around the house. We currently have the one and every time it rained last year, it would overflow. This year we're going to add a barrel to that barrel (piggy back!) and at least one more to the other side of the house. Rain barrels are the one thing every gardener must have - must! Using tap water to keep those plants happy is too expensive. Use what's out there! If you buy one pre-made, it is expensive but it's a one-time cost that will last for years. If you don't mind ugly, you can convert a round trash can into a rain barrel by cutting a hole in the lid.

The next idea I want to try is 2 liter watering. What that is taking clean 2 liter soda bottles and punching holes in the bottom 2-3 inches. You then bury them halfway down in the garden and fill them up. The soil will hydrate as it needs and it will also get deeper soil wet - that's what the roots want, that's what the roots get! It's also good for when you're on vacations or just forgetful.

Dan and I started our garden last year mainly because I forced him to do so. I grew up all over the Midwest and my fondest memories of our house in Wisconsin that had a huge garden in the back. My family only did this two or three summers but I remember being so excited when we had fresh corn out of the garden and remembering how much better it tasted than something store bought. Beyond that, I also thought this was the better way to get more veggies into our diet (Dan's a dedicated carnivore so I had to do something to make him eat better!) but without spending hundreds of dollars in the grocery store every month on produce. Why buy it when you can grow it?

When we bought our current house, there was a long strip of gravel (on top of many, *many* layers of decaying plastic) that used to be a dog run. At first, we thought that eventually we'd dig it up and plant grass on it. After trying to do so, we realized that it would take a backhoe and that would be too expensive. We then decided it would be a perfect place for raised beds. The gravel would provide not only good drainage but an informal walk way around the beds.

Our final design involved building three beds. Two that are 6 X 10 feet and one that is 4 X 4. The variety of pots you see at the bottom are mainly to cover up a rather uneven patch of gravel (I'm trying to convince Dan to build yet another bed on top of that - we'll see if that happens). Eventually (not seen in the picture), we added PVC piping arches over the beds and

I usually avoid meta-blogging, so I’ll jump straight to the point: Whitney and I created a garden in our back yard last year. We also wanted to create a blog about it, so we can share our experience in the garden with our friends (especially the ones who thought we were too geeky for anything even vaguely related to agriculture).

This year, we decided to try something a little different from last year: seed starter kits. They water themselves, and allow us to get some plants started indoors before Winter releases its last gasp of cold air. It’s a little weird for me, still. Seeing these plants with the lights directly above them always reminds me of the second season of Weeds.

Already, we have a lot of plants starting to grow their tester leaves! They don’t seem to mind the fake light too much so far, but we will start giving them small doses of natural sunlight in a few weeks. We already have our deer/rabbit nets built, so hopefully we’ll be able to make plenty of salad with the early spring crop!