There'll Be Some Changes Made

Mammouth Queen Sunflower
Season 2

Last post, we looked back at the things that have gone well in our garden under the giants.  And, make no mistake, we are happy with our progress during our Second Season. 

In our 2010 garden, we planted tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, squash, melons, peas, corn, sweet potatoes, onions, lettuce, pumpkins, strawberries, beans, turnip greens, broccoli, cabbage, basil, parsley, nastutiums, zinnias, marigolds, and sunflowers (photo, left). 

Some in that list (i.e., sweet potatoes and broccoli) were complete "firsts" for us, as we've never attempted to grow them before.  A few in the list (corn, pumpkins, and English peas), we've attempted before, but without success.  A few (zucchini squash, sweet potatoes, black-eyed peas, and peppers) were the real winners, far exceeding our expectations.  And, several in the list (tomatoes, cukes, beans, carrots, corn, pumpkins, cabbage, and broccoli) were disappointing for one reason or another.
When reviewing the disappointments, it becomes clearer what changes we need to incorporate in the 2011 Garden.



Garden in July:  Corn and black-eyed peas
Season 2

 Changes will include:

1. Find out what the soil needs before planting.  No guessing this time.  As soon as the soil dries out enough (and is no longer frozen...:), I will take soil samples for testing.  [That will be a whole blog post by itself, I'm sure.]  I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll learn we need lots more compost and pounds of nutrients.  The tomato crop was so sad, primarily because of the inconsistent rain-drought-rain cycles we experienced; but, I imagine that a lack of calcium and other nutrients caused a share of the problems.
2. Plant at the proper time.  The Fall planting of cabbage and broccoli came just too late in the season to allow either to grow properly.  I have set up a spreadsheet with the optimum planting dates for our area; additionally I have entered all these dates into my calendar, with reminders being sent to my email address.  How cool is that for a painless solution?!
3. Maintain consistent moisture by using more mulch.  Although we watered this past season more often than the previous year, we struggled to maintain consistent moisture to certain crops:  carrots, corn, cukes, and pumpkins come to mind.  We'll be buying more bales of straw in the coming season.
4. Keep the insects and pests at bay with row covers.  I do not want to use chemicals if at all possible, so I see row covers as a good answer.

OK, four positive points..four opportunities for improvement.

Although it doesn't really apply today, I will begin the practice of letting you know how our garden is growing each week, and what we are doing.

Garden Shed
Completed at end of Season 2

How Does Our Garden Grow?

• This week, we moved some more of the "outdoor" equipment into the garden shed (photo, right).  There's been so much snow and ice on the ground, we haven't had a chance to shelter some of the tools until now.  We still need to decide how to best use this wonderful new addition.

• We rearranged the row covers that are protecting the onions and the strawberries(which are the only "crops" still actively growing in the garden).  Most of them had been blown up and over the rows by recent winds and weather, so the garden was looking a bit ragged.  Now, it looks a little neater.

• We added some more kitchen scraps to the composter and tossed in some leaves and grass clippings.  The latter had been "resting" next to the fence and had started to compost all on their own.  We discussed the best way to take advantage of that outside-of-the-box compost, and we decided that our new, to-be-built cold frame might go there (instead of next to the garden shed as originally planned).  We've got a bunch of old windows in frames, and we are researching how to turn them into a cold frame.  I'll post about that when we get it started.

• The seed catalogs continue to arrive, and we continue to plan how the garden will be laid out for Season Three.  That's exciting, but I'm so ready to start playing in the dirt again.

• Oh, and I started my Master Gardener classes on Wednesday.  Another exciting thing to report!  I'll post more about that soon, too.

Happy Hoeing!