Corn

Today I weeded out my old raised bed. I'm impressed to see that the soil is actually starting to look fairly decent. DH & I were discussing digging out all the old soil and replacing it with Beaty's landscape mix next year, but it looks like I may not have to really do that. I'm so glad too, that would be a lot of work.

Anyway, I divided the bed in fourths and dumped a bag of composted manure in each fourth to make a mound to plant my three sisters properly. Well, I'm not sure if manure is too strong to plant in, so that's not very proper, but we'll see. I made a little well at the top of the mounds for the corn. I read that you should plant corn that way to retain more water, since corn needs a lot. I planted 4 seeds of Early Sunglow in one mound and 4 of Golden Cross Bantam T-51 (a later variety) in another. Once they germinate, I will succession plant in the other two mounds.

Unfortunately, this bed is smaller, so I won't get much corn this year. I probably could have done 6 mounds instead of 4. I just realized I fit in 8 in the other raised bed. Oh well. I'm actually kind of wondering if I really should do three sisters at all. In that plan, the corn is planted so far away from each other to allow room for the beans & squash, so I don't really get a lot of corn. I'm wondering if I would get a better yield of all three just doing a regular rotation plan & doing bush beans instead of pole. It's something I definitely want to calculate as I plan for next year.

I also found a little surprise in my new lasagna bed. Apparently, all the seeds from last year's fall pumpkin decided to germinate out of my compost. The one end was covered with pumpkin plants! I pulled them all up and put them on the compost pile. And if you're wondering, there are about 3 plants growing there too. It will be interesting to see if we inadvertently grow pumpkins this year.

Containers & Flowers

Seedlings waiting for warmer weather: Cat grass, Carmen sweet pepper, Rosa Bianca eggplant, & two pots Sugar Baby watermelon.

Today I was excited to see that most everything I had already planted in containers has sprouted, as well as my cucumbers and the watermelon seeds I started (as you can see). I used my second bag of potting soil finishing out most of my container plantings. I started green onions, kale, thyme, spearmint, Italian parsley, and German chamomile. I also transplanted the herb plants from Crabtree Farms into bigger pots. I am so excited to be having fresh herbs this year.

I did some more succession planting of spinach, radishes, lettuce (both the Romaine & Green Ice), and cucumbers. My cole crops are really taking off now, minus the fact that I've lost half my cabbage to cutworms. I'm really excited that I might actually get decent broccoli this year.

I also spent some time weeding my front flower bed and planting black-eyed susans and mini zinnias. It looks like my daisies are pondering putting up flower stalks. I have tons of rosebuds waiting to open too. I can't wait! The only downside to my roses is our little Eastern Tent Catterpillar plague this year. (I kid you not, I've never seen so many.) They aren't doing too much damage all things considered though.

DH & I went by Ace this evening for screws to put up the rest of the shutters on the house. I was super surprised by the amount, quality, and price of their plants this year. I'm pretty sure I said that last year too, although I don't remember them having heirloom tomatoes or quite the variety of so many other things last year. I think I will just buy my tomatoes, peppers, etc. there sometime this week and not worry about another trip down to Crabtree. I did go ahead and get a bunch more composted manure this evening, so I can build corn mounds. Hopefully I can get that bed started this week.

Other goals for the week: finish planting zinnias, fertilize roses, finish building 2nd half of new lasagna bed, weed & prep office bed & plant sunflowers.

Containers

Monday I was able to finish up the back porch, so I could start a few seeds in containers. I planted Florida Broadleaf mustard, Georgia collards, Green Ice looseleaf lettuce, and spinach. Then I ran out of potting soil. I got another bag, and my first job Sunday will be to get my herbs, kale, and green onions started in containers.

I noticed today that my mustard or maybe collard seedlings (I'm not sure which) have just popped up. I also clipped a little of my fresh chives, including the flower, for tonight's baked potato. It's so nice to start having my own fresh herbs!

Planting Continues

I took a field trip to Crabtree Farms this morning for their spring plant sale. Crabtree Farms is an urban community garden on the southside of Chattanooga. I've been wanting to visit for a while, and it was awesome to check it out. They have 5 acres, and you can volunteer, rent your own plot, attend their free workshops, or buy local meat, eggs, & produce from their farm stand. It's really amazing to be in the center of industry and suddenly find yourself in a beautiful country farm. Since their plant sale started yesterday, the good stuff was gone, but I managed to bring home a plant each of Rosa Bianca eggplant, Carmen sweet pepper, common sage, Greek oregano, and chives. They said that in a few weeks they will have more tomato plants available, so I left my email address and hope to go back down in May. Hopefully they will have cantaloupe plants available as well. It's just as well that I get those plants later, since they really shouldn't be transplanted until then anyway. I put my pepper & eggplant plants inside on a window sill, since I'm a little afraid it might get too cold at night for them. I'll have to ask about that on Gardenweb. The herbs are currently sitting on my front porch.

When I got home, I finished one half of the new lasagna bed. (I will finish the 2nd half when I collect more grass clippings.) I planted Bright Lights swiss chard, 1/2 row Detroit Red beets, about 2 dozen sweet onions, 1/2 row carrots, 1/2 row American Flag leeks, 1/2 row Seven Top turnips, & 1/3 row Spacemaster bush cucumbers. I also started seeds for Sugar Baby watermelon and some catgrass inside. They're now in the windowsill next to the pepper & eggplant.

As for stuff already in the garden, I discovered that a cutworm got another cabbage. :( Otherwise, I think the extra fertilizing did a lot of good. The broccoli and Brussels sprouts look great for the most part. The cabbage is looking better too, I think. My second planting of radishes are just starting to come up. Wow, do they sprout fast!

This evening, I'm hoping to get a 2nd coat of paint on my back porch. That way I can start planting containers tomorrow. This week I also need to fertilize my roses, prep the bed for my 3 sisters plot, deadhead my tulips, and maybe get started planting my flower annuals in the front of the house. We'll see what happens.

Building, Planting, Reading

I've been continuing to work on the new lasagna bed. So far the layers are: newspaper, peat moss, shredded paper, compost, old soil from containers, and grass clippings. I still need to put half the layer of grass clippings, then it will be peat moss, sawdust, peat moss, and a sprinkling of lime. Hopefully, I will be able to finish by the end of the week.

I have to say a little note about composting. Last year was the first time I tried, and I was really worried about the science of it since I really didn't do half of what they say you should. However, after harvesting my first pile, I am super impressed. It was so cool to see all the organisims that were living in and decomposing all that stuff. And I've never seen such big earthworms! I am definitely fully hooked, composting is actually very easy and very cool!

Today, I actually started out by replanting the broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprout plants that had died. I discovered that there really was a cutworm next to the dead Brussels sprout, and that the soil wasn't really too dry once I dug down in. I did double the blood/bone meal when planting as well as add a generous side dressing trench. The Brussels sprouts are still a little purple and some of the cabbage looks yellow/stunted. I actually tried to mathematically figure how much fertilizer they needed this time, so I hope I did okay.

My radishes look great, and the lettuce and spinach has started to come up as well. I planted another 3rd of a row of all three. I also planted Fernleaf Dill among the brassicas and a half row of Harris Model parsnips.

I finished Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long
by Eliot Coleman last night. Coleman is making a successful sustainable living on the Nearing's old property in Maine. The fact that they eat year round in Maine is amazing to me, and certainly tells me that I should be able to do it so much better here in Tennessee. What I especially appreciated and made copies of in this book was detailed instructions, including construction, of various cold frames & greenhouses and how to use them. There is also a very practical chapter on storage including root cellaring. At first I thought that it wouldn't be very helpful to me since my seasons are so different, but the advice was thorough and practical and occasionally had comments of this is what you can do in zone 7 & south. I feel that I have a much better handle on when to start fall planting and how to keep it going. It is definitely a book I will refer to again.

Row Cover Ponderings

This evening when I looked at my plants it seemed that my Brussels sprouts were wilty. One was even shriveled over. I became concerned that the rain isn't getting through the row cover very well. I'm now thinking that that was the cause to my cabbage damage and not a cutworm. Interestingly, the one cabbage plant that wasn't under the row cover (because the wind had pulled it up) seemed to be much bigger than the other ones. I pulled up the row cover. I think it's doing more damage than good, especially since I keep reading that healthy plants shouldn't really have a big insect problem. As soon as I have time for more planting, I will go ahead and plant my dill, so that should help a bit too.

On a happy note, I noticed my radishes are just starting to poke out. I watered everything well. Hopefully, my Brussels sprouts will spring back to life. Fortunately, I have a couple extra plants to replace the ones I killed thus far.

Container Garden Workshop

Today I went to a workshop on container gardening presented by one of our church members. He has created an awesome garden using specialized "barrel troughs" of his own invention. I won't be more specific on this blog because he has requested that we remain fairly confidential while his patent is pending, but his idea is awesome. The pictures of his own garden were incredible, especially the size of his cabbages. I intend to make a few of my own at some point. So stay tuned, but don't hold your breath, it could be a year or so.

He also had a guy from our local feed and seed store make a presentation on soil quality. As part of his presentation he showed some of the organic fertilizers, insecticide, and soils that he personally sells. I'm really excited about this because I've been wanting to check out his store, and now I know I will be buying his soil mix and some other stuff very soon. I can't wait to have time for a little field trip (with my Dad's pickup). {Edit: I just figured out it's not the same place, but I know where to find it!}

I thought I would record a few of the notes I took since he had some nifty info on plant specifics, etc.

Soil:

• Organic matter & draining well are necessary qualities, but equally as important is a neutral pH.
• Test your soil at several spots to get an accurate reading.
• Nutrients won't even work if soil is too acidic or too akaline and trace elements will become toxic.
• Acidic soil - add lime. Alkaline soil - Add sulfur.
• Be sure not to over lime in raised beds. Test, test, test.

Planting:

• Peat pellets work very well for starting seeds.
• Can soak seeds overnight for faster germination, but not necessary.
• If starting plants early, put koozies over them during the night to protect from frost.
• Daylight is the best time for watering. This prevents mold growth & water evaporation.
• Plants with a big rootball (i.e. broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes) can be grown individually in half barrels (whiskey barrel size - about 20 gal. of soil).
• As spring stuff finishes in midsummer, succession plant with carrots, leeks, peppers, melons, onions, or something else that needs long growth for fall.
• Can use irrigation ring in barrel containers with hole drilled in side for hose to go through.

Plants:

• Potatoes/Sweet Potatoes: Start the 2nd week of March with 4 inches of soil at the bottom. Place seed potatoes on top, evenly spaced (no need to cut). Cover with soil. As they grow, continue to cover. Don't let them leaf until well hilled up and safely out of frost season. Harvest, when flowers die. Wrap with newspaper and store in cool place for winter.
• Onions: Need space to bulb. Scrap out soil to the roots for it to bulb. Break top over before it goes to seed. Pull up gently with fork. Leave roots on bulbs for them to store longer.
• Leaf lettuce: Put seeds in coarse pepper shaker and shake over area. Gently tap in with rake. Clip with scissors to continually harvest. Should be able to get about 4 harvests until mid June (then will be too bitter from heat).
• Tomatoes: Plant 75% under the soil. Mulch with grass clippings, but keep them an inch away from the stem. Clip suckers up to 3 feet. Cage them using concrete reinforcement wire.

Freezing Vegies: Blanch in boiling water for 1 1/2 minutes, then dip in cold water. Use vacuum sealer.

Cutworms

Broccoli, Cabbage, & Brussels Sprouts Just Planted And Tucked In

I went to check on the garden this afternoon. It looks like I might have lost one cabbage and most of one broccoli transplant to cutworms. I thought this only happened with smaller seedlings? One edge of the insect cover has become untucked also. Tomorrow I need to make some cutworm collars for the other seedlings and get another stake for the middle part of the tulle to raise it a bit better. I hope that the plants are doing okay under the tulle.

Planting Finally Begins

Today I tried to multitask between painting and planting. I got a bunch of seeds and plants at WalMart (I know, I know...) yesterday, and I couldn't wait to get started.

I topped off last year's lasagna bed with six bags of compost/manure. (I'm going to need two more to finish the top covering.) Then I planted 6 Brussels sprout, 6 cabbage (Dutch flat?), and 8 broccoli (Early Dividend) plants. I played around with a wide staggered row for the cabbage and broccoli, almost like a square foot garden. I left room in the center to plant dill in a week or two, which will hopefully help keep pests away. I put about a teaspoon of bone & blood meal in the bottom of the hole before putting in each plant. I hope this will give them a good shoot of energy without burning the roots. Then I covered everything with fine tulle to protect from cabbage moths. I read about this in last issue's Mother Earth News, and I can't wait to see how it does, especially since I haven't been able to harvest broccoli yet because of cabbage loopers.

I also planted a third of a row of radish (sparkler) & romaine lettuce interplanted & spinach (teton hybrid). I will add a third of a row each week and then start containers, so I should hopefully have constant salad basics.