May and June. It's a crazy time of the year. Time to get out the deck furniture, open the pool, mow the lawn constantly (so it seems), and of course, time to get the garden started.
Prepping the Garden
The first step each year is to get the garden prepared. If you clean away debris and till the ground in the fall, then the Spring prep is much much easier. Luckily I did a good cleanup in the Fall, only a few unpicked leeks and kale plants remained which were easily removed.
It is always a good idea to amend the soil using compost, grass clippings, or leaves. I used grass clippings and chopped leaves. It is not only important to add nutrients, but also organic matter that enhances the soil. This allows the soil to retain moisture longer, also preventing the soil from becoming baked and hard during hot weather.
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| Tilling the Soil |
Planting Onions
I planted one row of yellow onions, which are a common onion that are general purpose, and they also store very well. These were planted from sets that I purchased.
Also, as I described in my post of March 23, 2018, I planted Sweet Spanish Onions from seed, and recently transplanted them into the garden.
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| Yellow Onions |
The Lettuce (And Other Greens) Growing Bed
This year I decided to build a frame to grow lettuce and other greens. Normally I use either wire or wood shingles to form a boundary to protect lettuce from critters and the hot sun. My idea this year was to build a type of raised bed, although the soil is not raised, to allow room for vertical growth.
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| Lower Garden With New Lettuce Frame |
The other feature of this frame is also to allow for attachment of netting to provide additional protection from critters, birds, etc. I still use wood shingles for sun shading when plants are first transplanted. However, this frame is much easier overall as the netting can be unclasped to allow for more planting, weeding, harvesting, etc.
During the winter, I came across an article about shade cloth, This is a new concept for me but it seems like a great idea, especially for lettuce and other greens that tend to bolt in the heat of summer.
So I have purchased shade cloth, which I will experiment with this summer. It comes in different degrees of shading. For example, I purchase a 30% shade cloth which blocks 30% of the suns rays.
It is also available in other strengths as well.
So far I have planted romaine and butter crunch lettuce plants, and kale all of I started using the Winter Sowing technique, and also some spinach and mesculin from seed. Finally, I purchased Swiss chard plants, some of which are in the frame, some extras outside the frame.
For about the first month (through mid to late late June), I used just standard netting to allow the plants to get full sun and get a good start.
This will be a good experiment to see how the shade cloth performs.
Planting Cucumbers, Squash and Pumpkins
This year I purchased some cucumber (Burpless and Marketmore), Zucchini and pumpkin plants instead of staring from seed. It not only saves time and work, it will speed up the initial harvest. In the meantime since this planting, I have already planted cucumbers and zucchini seeds for a later harvest and also some extra pumpkins. I try to plant as to provide a constant supply of veggies throughout the summer.
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| Cucumbers, Squash, and Pumpkins (Top Row) |
Tomatoes and Peppers
In my last post on May 13, 2018, I described starting heirloom tomatoes from seed. As you can see, by the end of May they were more than ready to plant. I ended up buying a couple of grape tomato plants since I didn't start any from seed this year.
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| Heirloom Tomatoes Ready to Plant |
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| Planting Tomatoes |
I also purchased pepper plants. This year I am growing Bell, Hungarian Wax, and Jalapeno.
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| Peppers, Pumpkins Top Row |
Simply Photos
Since I am behind on my blog posts, I will just share some more photos of the garden, and a couple of really neat baby bird photos. The shade cloth has worked very well as it provides just enough sun protection and moisture control to control the growth of the greens. It also keeps the critters out! I am very happy with the results thus far.
So far to date, we have enjoyed plenty of lettuce, cucumbers, and Zucchini squash.
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| Romaine Lettuce |
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| Swiss Chard/Tomatoes in Background |
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| Shade Cloth Covering Greens Box |
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| Lower Garden |
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| Upper Garden (Peppers, Cukes, Zucchini, Leeks, Beans) |
Finally, I will share a couple of neat photos of baby barn swallows. We have swallows that return every year and love to nest in three boxes near the pond. They are fun to watch as they swoop around the yard and skim the surface of the pond for insects.
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| Hungry Barn Swallow |
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| Barn Swallow |
Stay tuned for future posts and more garden updates including harvest photos.
