Hi! Welcome to my gardening series, where I'm going to document the progress in my new backyard veggie beds!
I made these "no dig" beds last year with lots of CARDBOARD to kill the grass and several cubic yards of compost on top, mulched over the winter with fall leaves. I took this photo a few weeks ago, before I had cleared some of those leaves away. I still need to figure out my paths between beds a little better. I don't have enough brick to go around all the beds, and I don't really want to buy more. Anybody know of any free brick or pavers in town? You can drop them off at my house, heh heh!
Those two beds in the back, mulched with pine shavings, are strawberries!
Anyway, here is my plan:
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I always grow cherry tomatoes (SUNGOLD) and snap peas. (I will also have a whole other bed, or containers, elsewhere, dedicated to cherry tomatoes.) C. requested honeydew and pumpkin, and both kids were amenable to my other choices. Hopefully it will all FIT and grow well! I'll be letting you know right here on the blog!!
I'm planning on getting seedlings (tomatoes, etc.) over Mother's Day weekend, as I always do! If I go crazy with enthusiasm at the nursery, I may do fewer of some types so I can squeeze in other stuff. :) I'm not sure what is going to go where in the "fall" (late summer); it depends on when the earlier crops are finished. I've never remembered to do a second planting for fall before, but this year I am ON IT!
I recently put in the snap pea seeds and covered them with some low netting to thwart any birds. The past couple days, I planted carrot seeds, both from a fresh packet, and a couple varieties that are from 2021. Hopefully they'll come up! Also old are some arugula and lettuce seeds, which C. helped me plant. I figured, why not? Those should be done growing before my "real" planting in May.
Some of the carrot seeds I methodically dropped into individual holes, and some I just thinly sowed over ground I had scratched up a bit, then sort of smoothed everything over with my hand.
I have other seeds on hand, but need to wait till after the last frost, which is April 27! I *might* try starting some zinnias indoors, but usually I get the timing wrong with that (and watering, and light, and every aspect basically), so I'll probably be direct sowing them later. Oh! And marigolds! I have leftover seeds from last year's flowers. These marigold seeds never seem to do anything when I sprinkle them around the yard in fall, so . . . I don't have a lot of confidence, but you never know!
I want to get some cornflower/bachelor's button, but ONLY the blue type, not the mix. I only saw the mix when I got my other seeds, so I need to look around. Again, outdoor seed planting/scattering has not been very successful for me, ever, so I'm wary!
Aside from this veggie garden, I pruned my blueberries in the front yard a couple weeks ago, so I should be set there! This lady from Rural Sprout has a very good article on pruning blueberries. In fact, her whole website is CHOCK A BLOCK with garden and plant info, so I signed up for her newsletter! Now I want to cultivate some African violets inside, propagate my Christmas cactus (seen in top photo in the last post), etc etc. So fun!
Until next time!
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