Category Archives: spring

Veggies Version 1.0

planting, spring, vegetables

We’ve done it! My Better Half and I planted our first round of vegetables in the new, raised beds we built last fall. Putting our trust in Weather.com, we made sure to head outside first thing in the morning to plant. That afternoon, our area was to receive some spring rainshowers.

After reading about a few different backyard, veggie gardening techniques, we settled on a mix of Lasagna Gardening and Square Foot Gardening. Lasagna Gardening allows us to build up beds and control the contents of our soil without having to drastically amend it. We utilized Square Foot Gardening for planning and planting the two 4’x4′ beds.

Here is what we planted, direct sowing the seed into the beds:

  • Teton Hybrid Spinach
  • Red Cored Chantenay Carrots
  • French Breakfast Radish
  • Green Onions
  • Detroit Dark Red Beets
  • Hybrid Granex Yellow PRR Onions
  • Melting Sugar Snow Peas

When planning/planting, we tried to take into consideration which spaces in the garden can be reused within one growing season. For example, if all goes well, the radishes will be ready to harvest in 24 days. This space will then be free to plant warmer weather crops.

Also, some veggies like the radish, spinach and snow peas prefer the cooler weather. It is recommended these vegetables be planted in early spring and then again in late summer.

Finally, when planning the positions of the plants, we tried to take into consideration how sunlight would change over the growing season. Some plants are taller or grow upward as vines, possibly throwing shadows on the bed. There is also a large tree in our neighbor’s yard that is currently without leaves, but in a month will be blocking some late afternoon sun for at least one of the beds.

We’ve tried to prepare for our adventure into vegetable gardening, but I’m sure we’ll still learn a lot. I’m wondering what the skunk will think when she visits our backyard for the first time since her winter nap.

“What’s this? A salad bar just for me?! You shouldn’t have.”

Mother Nature, are you being sneaky?

spring,

I checked in the front, South bed today and my daffodils are in bloom. What?! This warm weather is really stirring up the activity on the lot. When I checked my post for my daffodils last year, they had bloomed around the end of April. Are they early this year?…or maybe last year they were late? It’s going to be fun comparing my growing notes and garden photos from this year to the previous.

The peonies in the back bed have poked their shoots above the ground. I also spotted the tiny blades of the dwarf irises sticking out of the mulch in the fence bed. The foxglove, also in the gate bed, has some healthy new spring growth. If next weekend is going to be as nice, I’ll reset some plant tags and run a full inventory check.

The Other Shoe Drops

bulbs, spring

March 20th is the first day of spring. I exclaimed this while my Better Half and I were munching on breakfast yesterday morning. We both looked out the window into our backyard, looked at each other and started to laugh. It was snowing.

Last year at the beginning of March, all the snow melted away and temperatures reached into the upper fifties. This year during mid-March, temperatures warmed in the same way. The star of Bethlehem, tulips and daffodils broke through the ground. The crocus were blooming. In a fit of gardening withdrawal, the butterfly bushes were pruned! Then it snowed.

This is a good thing. I feel like I can let out the breath I’ve been holding ever since the weather turned spring-like these past two weeks. Although I do enjoy winter, this is it’s last gasp before leaving us and spring truly arrives. I can’t wait. Neither can the plants.

In addition to the above mentioned bulbs, there are other plants stirring on the lot. While poking around in the beds, I noticed the sedum, lilies, irises, jupiter’s beard, lamb’s ear, poppy, delphinium, bleeding heart and lenten rose all showing new sprouts. I feel like it’s Christmas morning.