Whew. Big piece of work for the summer out of the way. Looking forward to starting some of this stuff in the basement soon. That is the next step, getting the basement set up for seed growing!
I’m getting pretty tired of frozen vegetables. Sure they’re better than canned. They’re definitely better than no vegetables. But they sure as hell aren’t as good as fresh (duh)….and last year we had real fresh. So fresh in fact that the food miles for a good portion of our veggies amounted to about 50ft.
Last year we had a pretty successful garden and I’m ready at this point to start again. Looking through the seed catalogs is driving me nuts. I’m deciding on what to plant, where to plant it, and when. The one thing I can’t do is actually plant anything 
I do have plans to start seed indoors again this year. It was a successful experiment last year and I learned a thing or two (like: don’t water from the top unless you want lots of fuzz and fungus. not a good thing to be sure).
There really is nothing like a fresh green bean. And damn it my mouth is almost watering thinking about them. But it seems so far off….
I’ve got something hacking on my corn. I suspect it’s the squirrels as they should be the only thing that can get over the fencing I have around the corn without bringing down the fence. I know its not some kind of bug…the damage looks like its from teeth and everything is shredded.
Today I went out and bought some Bobbex-R to spray on the corn in the hopes that it will keep the critters away. The stuff certainly isn’t cheap so I hope it does work. By the smell I’m sure it will
I completely forgot to write about the second garden plot I put in. I planted three kinds of corn with seed from Vermont Bean Seed Company. My daughter and I planted:
We also planted three different kinds of beans from Cooks Garden:
I also planted the Cook’s Custom carrot blend and yellow sweet spanish hybrid onions from Vermont Bean Seed.
Thats it for the garden this year. I’ve had enough planting fun for one year
If my garden survives all of the rain we’ve had this weekend it will be a miracle. Too much standing water and some of it I just planted so those parts haven’t had a chance to take root yet.
Keeping my fingers crossed….
Was a beautiful day to get the first plot done. I know I’m way behind but I’m not sure it makes as much of a difference this year since it has been so cool for so long. In fact we’re due to get back down for a brief dip into the 50s on Tuesday again.
Anyhow I was able to get in the
* Waverex peas
* Lincoln peas
* Onions
* Hot peppers
* Bell peppers
* Carrots
* Cucumbers
The peas and carrots are from seed. The rest was started in my basement. It was time to get them in the ground though and this was a perfect opportunity because we had to clear the stuff out of the basement. We’re having our basement windows replaced on Tuesday so it had to be moved.
Next up is the second plot and hopefully we’ll get some breaks in the planned rain tomorrow so I can start working the ground.
I replanted the cucumbers and most of the peppers into bigger containers (8-1/2 ounce Styrofoam cups to be exact). They need to get outside but I’m still not happy with the weather we’ve been having. It has been real cool out and since I’m not too happy with the way the lettuce is looking outside at the moment everything else is staying indoors for at least another week.
Well, the onions can probably go out and I’ll probably take care of that this weekend.
I need to act like it’s garden time although the weather certainly isn’t giving me many clues that it is. The new lettuce needs more consistent watering. Mistake duly noted.
Wow. I decided this year to follow the Jeavons method (discussed here) of double-digging my garden bed. I’ve seen several people say that double-digging isn’t good for the soil (here is an example but you have to read in to the comments a bit) but I’m not sure how the way Jeavons does it would harm either the soil structure or the microbial life in the soil as his method specifically was designed to prevent that. You keep everything at the same level it was original so I’m not sure how it destroys anything.
At any rate I did some of it today, about a quarter of one bed, and damn am I hurting right now I need to get in better shape and I suspect more of this digging will get me there fast. I only had enough time to dig to get the lettuce in but that was the stuff that was looking really bad in my start flats in the basement. I was correct though and the roots were wrapping all around the inside of the containers. At least I learned quickly about the technique so by the third trench I was going much faster. I suspect the next time I dig it won’t take quite so long.
I got two rows of the Romaine mix and two rows of the Butterhead mix from Cook’s Garden in, the rest went to my Mom since I didn’t have the time or energy to dig another trench or two. Following Jeavons I planted them on 9″ centers in his hexagonal pattern. I know from experience last year that getting stuff in nice and tight definitely helps keep the weeds down.
I also learned why the carrots I tried planting last year never grew worth a damn. The ground was simply far too compacted. I suspect this year will be different. 
Just a quick garden journal update. The romaine and butterhead mixes from Cooks Garden that I planted are growing like nuts. I’m going to have to do some culling over the weekend but every damn last one of the sprouts looks great! It’s going to be a tough one.
Everything else continues to grow nicely as well but the smell of the lettuce blends is already driving me nuts and its a long way off We’ve had so much rain it has been impossible to get outside and do anything with the garden. Too muddy so far. Keeping my fingers crossed for a stretch of warm, dry weather.