Sunday, May 31, 2009


Holy Heck!
I almost put in a literal 9-5 gardening today. (I started closer to 10, and I took about an hour for lunch) Despite that marathon, I didn't accomplish everything on my gardening list. But I put a huge dent in it. Today I:
-planted more carrots, daikon, onions, scallions,and spinach
-transplanted 5 more brussels sprout plants
-put in my new tomato, basils, cilantro, dill, chamomile, and lemon balm from this past week's Trax farm visit with dad. While there I saw a sign about giving hothouse plants the porch treatment to get them used to the sun before planting them, so that's what I did. I think it might have done the trick! (fingers crossed)
-hand weeded the entirety of the bed along the side of the house. this took most of the day and was a giant pain in the ass, but oh so satisfying to see nice clean soil with only the things I planted in it. In the process I found several volunteer tomato plants, the largest of which I tried to replant in the tomato bed. I'm kinda excited to see if they make it!
-moved the exotic mints all to the back wall, and planted the two boxes closest to the house with lettuces, fennel, and rainbow chard. If they are successful, I'll switch their spots in the raised bed planter for summer veggies (cukes, eggplants, beans)
-pulled up a turnip! it is nothing to write home about--huge massive leaves and puny little root. I think if we are going to be successful with root crops we're going to have to mix some sand into the soil. I think it compacts too much and therefore it's hard for the plants to form nice big roots. I was really tempted to pull my one beet that made it from the first planting, but I'm gonna hold off. Anyway, tonight I'll be eating some turnip greens!
-pulled up a bunch of giant chard (which wasn't so giant--that's the name) to make room for more brussles sprouts. I don't know if I've mentioned it here before or not, but rebby and I have contrasting gardening styles and it's driving me a little batty. She plants in old skool long rows with spaces in between, whereas I am a fan of the "square foot" method of packing stuff into a square. With my method, it's easy for me to kneel down, out of the box if you will, to weed or thin or pick or plant. I did the majority of the new raised bed, and it's been easy for me to keep up with it. She planted these fordhook chard in there though, and it just threw me off with it's tightly packed row. Also, it was blocking the sun of a couple of brussels sprouts guys I had planted at the ends of the "row" (back when it was a square) Anyhow, I have a bunch more chard seeds and I think I'll plant some more in the side plot now that it's all weeded. I did not do the thinning and weeding in the greens plot that I wanted to, primarily because I just can't figure out how to get in there without crushing anything! So I'm gonna have to make tiny foot rebby take care of it. ;)
I *think* that's it. I seem to have done a good job with the sunblock which is a relief, because even though it has been extremely mild and pleasant all day, the sun was shining down right on me. Dried some sheets on the line for extra springy goodness.
Now it's time for a shower and then on to the kitchen cleaning and cupcake baking portion of the day. Hope yours has been as lovely!

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