Friday 31 May 2013

The Start of Gardening Season

Husband and I spent the other weekend working outside.  Saturday morning found me in the front of the house actually putting flowers in the raised bed instead of pretending the weeds look pretty.


Front flower bed before flowers.


Front flower bed after flowers.

Husband was out back running the rototiller. He was turning over last year's garden and breaking ground on a new section for this year. The afternoon found us pulling clumps of sod out of the newly turned over garden.


This year's garden, freshly tilled.


I find it funny that when we started last year's garden I thought it was so big. The whole thing was a learning experience for me. I learned things like:
  • Don't plant your peppers between your tomatoes and broccoli, especially if your rows are only 8 inches apart. My poor pepper plants only got to about 8 inches tall and the three peppers that I got were only about 2 inches big.
  • I now know that when growing cauliflower you cover the flower head with the leaves in order to keep it white. 
  • I know what cauliflower and broccoli look like just before and after they flower. 
  • The rabbits in our area like the beets I grow but not the carrots. However, they like my neighbor's carrots but not her beets.
  • It is nearly impossible to kill swiss chard and the leaves can get huge.
  • Slugs like lettuce and swiss chard.
  • A single zucchini plant will cover nearly 1/4 of last year's garden.

Last year's garden.

This year I'm going bigger. The pictures aren't really a fair comparison. Last year's garden was about 10'x10'. This year it's 24'x18'. I wanted it bigger but I'll make do. I'm also going to set up two pallet gardens for the lettuce, chard and kale, so that should help. I'll be growing sweet peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, carrots, peas, cucumber, yellow summer squash, zuchinni, tomatoes, swiss chard, 2 types of lettuce and kale. I also have planters containing oregano, thyme and cilantro.
 
Strong-Willed One watering flowers.

While I was clearing the sod from the garden, Strong-Willed One watered the new flowers and Kiddlet kept Little Guy entertained.

Kiddlet and Little Guy.
This all happened about 2 weeks ago. Our internet connection has been spotty due to the weather we've been having. I'm hoping to post some more recent pictures of the gardens soon.

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