Rain

Wow......About 1-1/2 weeks ago I was hoping we would have enough rain to keep my seeded veggie beds sufficiently watered.........It hasn't really stopped !

This weekend I'll plant out some seedlings. Not much else going on but that.

Great Weekend ~ More Planting!!

We had a beautiful weekend here. Much rain on saturday, but the garden needed it. Here's what I got done:

1. Remaining 3 beds turned over
2. More mushroom manure added
3. One bed had a lot of weed roots ~ very thick and deep so I decided to sow yellow clover seeds and plan to leave it without veggies until the fall garden needs to be planted. I'll turn the clover under and add mushroom manure before planting transplants in there.
4. Planted Cylindra beets and Chatenay carrots in another bed.
5. Planted shallots. I'm not happy about it, but I just received the shallots I ordered along with my seeds. It's a good thing I had saved some from last year or I would have just now been planting any shallots at all!!! I started them in flats so I can keep an eye on them and will transplant them when I see top growth. They also don't look very nice. Many were turning black. I'll have to find another source for ordering them next season.
6. In the house I planted fennel, chard, kale, spinach, basil, more lettuce. More herbs will follow.


Husband doesn't want to use the drip system since we had trouble with our well last year. He set up a rain barrel which uses the roof of our little shelter in the gardens downspout and hoses. Works great. Requires carrying water in buckets to the beds but no big deal. I'll get pictures over at the other blog. All in all it was a great weekend.

Planting out

Today I planted out broccoli, kohlrabi and lettuce. I also broadcast some yellow clover seed on the new bed. As I was turning over the soil a while back, I noticed there was a lot of clay still in the newest bed. Yellow clover roots grow deep and will help to break up the tougher soil. When I'm ready to plant I'll turn it under.

We've had rain all day, so the transplants should benefit from that. Rain will continue through out the day. Some reports have said we could have snow on Monday:(
I'm ready for the really cold weather to be over!

First Planting

I had a wonderful morning out in the sun. I left work for a few hours and came home to plant out the shallots and red onions. I'm so glad I did, it was a nice break!


Scarlet Runner Bean seeds saved from last year's growth.

A sunny day outside

I had a great weekend ! It was still cold, had a little snow, but there was a noticeable difference in the sun. It was actually pleasant to be outside and do some garden chores! It wasn't just my imagination either, or the fact that I'm itching to get growing ~ because when I broke the ice from off of the pond I was greeted by a gradual surfacing splotch of gold until they surfaced to meet me. Yes, the goldfish are up and about now. Several times I have broken the ice without a stir from my fine finned friends, but on Sunday they rose to meet me.
We had used up their food in early winter and they retreated to the depths of their watery domain :D .......all 5 feet of it. So, off I ran to the store to pick up some fish food.
Here's a look at the garlic which has begun to peek up through the earth:

I've followed some of your steps in starting my shallots indoors, since it's still too cold for planting out ~ not only that but the seed company I ordered new shallots from has not shipped them yet, and won't for another couple of weeks. I've planted the ones I saved from last years harvest.

And red onions:

All in all it was a productive weekend. The sink is almost finished (hubby refurbished the old one) and we have to put a clear coat on the pantry wood; put up a cabinet and put fronts on the pantry drawers for now. We still have to choose a floor covering, remove 2 cabinets and replace with something smaller, figure out where we will put the microwave, buy an oven hood.
At the moment, I'm pondering over gadgets from Ikea
Take some time and browse their site ~ I think you'll find it interesting.

Friday's Snowfall

Friday afternnoon we had 7 inches of snow. We knew we were in for a ride anyhow because the weather people predicted freezing rain. This prediction did not concern our local school districts though, so all our buses were on the road. Fortunately, we got the snow instead.

We had one bus have an accident into a tree, but all were very late getting the children home so our phones were ringing off the hooks. I got back early because one of my kids got a ride home with her Dad. That really saved my afternoon. She lives 30 minutes farther away from all the others on my bus. The condition of the roads and traffic would have turned that part of the trip into at least an additional hour. We finally locked up at 6:30.

On my way home many people were stuck in ditches. Ididn't get home till about 7:30. It was a long day.

I was so stressed from driving in it all day, that on saturday I stayed in bed until 9am. I am always out of bed by 7am. I hope this was our last snowfall.

Good news: spinach is up

First Seedlings

#4801 NUTRI-BUD BROCCOLI (58 days) - $0.95

A fine and early open-pollinated broccoli. We have been looking for a non-hybrid broccoli of this merit for a long time. The heads are quite large and it also produces a good yield of second growth. This variety is particularly high in the glutamine which is very nutritious and also thought to be valuable for dietary healing.
*****************************
This is the first seedlings of my garden poking through the discs. They are the Nutri-Bud broccoli which is described above from the online catalog. I chose this variety for spring and this next one for fall:

#48 EARLY DIVIDEND SG (F1 hybrid 43 days) - $1.30

The first year we trialed this, we were impressed by its quality, taste, and earliness. The second year, spring weather was wetter, but we still got a good crop. Loose heads are a nice blue-green color, averaging 4-5", and after they are cut, plenty of side-shoots continue to grow, some of which are 3-4" heads themselves! Early Dividend's nice mild flavor and succulent texture further distinguish it.

I have three varieties of tomatoes planted in this flat as well so I better get busy making my paper pots!