Garden Kickoff 2014!

We started our garden this year earlier than we did in past years.  Our plan is to plant and harvest cool-weather vegetables (lettuce and spinach) in the first part of the season, and then replace those plants with the summer vegetables in June.  This weekend we cleaned up the garden plot and planted seedlings and seeds.  Here is the spring garden plan:

Some of the lettuce was planted as seeds, and we also planted seedlings from Home Depot.  The carrots, spinach, and kale were all planted as seeds.  We will cover the lettuce and spinach on the west side with a clear plastic storage container to protect them from freezing on cold nights and to promote germination during the cooler days.

We planted tomato seedlings early this year.  Two of the seedlings will be protected from frost by "walls of water," and we will cover the other two tomato plants with a clear plastic storage container on cold nights.

2013 Garden Kickoff

Our garden is planted!  Our garden plot had been covered in weed block for the winter.  We uncovered the garden, turned the soil, and added some soil (organic compost, peat moss, and perlite) since it had settled a bit.  We mixed in some organic fertilizer (bone meal, blood meal, and Age Old Bloom).  We installed the trellises and irrigation system.

The old water timer failed last year after just under two years of use (Orbit 62001 Lawn and Garden Digital Watering Timer), so we now have a new one (Orbit 91213 One-Dial Garden Hose Digital Water Timer).

We have a garden plan similar to previous years with a few changes.

• Added a tomato plant in place of a bell pepper plant
• Moved the herbs to the east column
• Planted aji dulce seeds directly in one square
• Planted lettuce seeds in addition to lettuce seedlings
• Included a hot banana pepper

We installed two worm towers and still have two paver stones for access to the back of the garden.  We also installed a tomato cage in the northwest square for cherry tomatoes.

To keep the lettuce seeds and aji dulce seeds moist, we installed five misters (one in each square).  The lettuce misters are on stakes, and the aji dulce mister is attached to the metal trellis brace.  We put a thin layer of sphagnum moss over the seeded squares to help hold moisture.  The sunshine has turned hot for the season.

The water timer is set to water for twelve minutes each time, four times per day.  We will adjust as needed.

The automatic garden is all done!  Now just train, trim, feed the worms, and harvest!

Garden Status and More Lettuce

The garden continues to grow, and we have green tomatoes, small peppers, and baby cucumbers.  I gave some additional training to the tomato and cucumber plants using Velcro ties.  This gave the peppers and vegetables in the middle of the garden some more room.  Here is the garden today (7/17/2011).

Here are the vegetables in the middle.  We have been harvesting lettuce and basil every day for salads and appetizers.

In an effort to keep the lettuce yield going all season, I germinated lettuce seeds indoors and transplanted a few of them to the garden today, adding a little blood meal around them for nitrogen.  The hot weather isn't supposed to support lettuce, but the plants are doing well so far, so I'll keep giving them a chance to give us salads.  I put the seedlings between the existing plants in one of the squares and will completely cut away (eat) the existing plants in this square as the seedlings mature.  We will keep the lettuce density at three lettuce plants per square foot.  I'll transplant seedlings to the other lettuce squares as we cut (eat) those.

I applied some more Safer BT, Captain Jack, and Safer Tomato/Vegetable Insect Killer today.  I don't see plant damage; this is just a preventative measure.

Bugs: Nuk'em

Although I haven't noticed a lot of damage by bugs, I'm seeing more bugs in the garden.  I'm putting three types of organic pesticides on the garden as a preventative measure:  Safer Caterpillar Killer (Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) / Kurstaki Strain), Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew (Spinosad (Spinosyn A and Spinosad D)), and Safer Tomato and Vegetable Insect Killer (Pyrethrins and potassium salts of fatty acids).  My garden neighbors have seen cabbage worms and cabbage worm eggs on their leaves.  I haven't seen them on my plants yet, and I'm working not to.  I'm a bit concerned that BT will affect my composting worms, but initial research says otherwise; I'll keep looking into this.

Going Up... More Green

After returning from our backpack last weekend, we saw a big change in the garden.  The tomatoes, cucumbers, and string beans have surged.  I tied the cucumbers with string to the netting to encourage them to grow vertically and keep them at least close to their allocated square footage.

The tomato plants keep climbing and green tomatoes keep forming.

The pepper plants don't look the healthiest I've seen, but the peppers are growing.  The pole beans have reached the top of the trellis.

This is the space between the string beans/cucumbers and tomatoes.  The lettuce, onions, garlic, carrots, basil, and strawberries seem to be doing well.

We've got quite the miniature farm going on.

Regular Fertilizing

Today (7/9) I supplied another round of fertilizer to the garden.  My plan is to water-in organic fertilizer every two weeks.  I picked up some Age Old Bloom fertilizer that is high in phosphorous to promote development of the fruit.  Two ounces of this fertilizer in two gallons of water covers the entire garden.

As part of my regular fertilizing, I'm also putting a small amount (a tablespoon or less per square foot) of bone meal, blood meal, and epsom salts on the surface of the soil near the plants.  I want the bone meal for phosphorous and calcium, the blood meal for nitrogen, and the epsom salts for magnesium near the tomatoes and peppers.  I'm intentionally adding the nitrogen to keep the leaves growing on the tomatoes so that I can keep the vertical growth happening until the plants reach the top of the trellis.

End-of-June Harvest and Status

On 6/29 our lettuce looked good enough to eat, so we did.  Our strategy is to pick the outer leaves when we want a salad.  Contrary to common advice, our lettuce is doing quite well in the hot weather.

The lettuce has a good flavor and texture.  It's not at all bitter and has a soft but "meaty" consistency.  We're mixing it with those store-bought vegetables until the garden starts producing other salad accoutrements.

We have the beginnings of tomatoes forming.  The plants are covered in blossoms, and a few green tomatoes are beginning to grow.

The basil and garlic are doing well, and the cantaloupe has begun to grow more rapidly.

Week after week, the green keeps expanding.