My World of Gardening as of May 19



The stick in the soup can shows a quarter inch of rain, more or less

RAIN GAUGE AND TATERS

     The snow is gone and the ground is warm, so I was busy from Wednesday the 15th of May until Sunday, the 19th.   Under the straw, directly behind my soup-can rain gauge wired to the fence, is the Yukon gold and the red potatoes I planted on Wednesday.  Nothing is planted yet in the area between the straw and the green house.

3 Sisters; Corn, Beans and Squash

THREE SISTERS GARDEN

     This picture shows the start of the 3 Sisters garden, a 14 foot diameter circle.  Around each stake a hill of corn surrounded by pole beans has been planted.  Later I'll be putting in some squash plants.  The pole beans will climb the corn stalks, and add nitrogen to the soil, while the squash vines will provide ground cover.  Behind the 3 Sisters garden are some sunflowers, 2 rows of peas, some carrots, onions and garlic.  Not shown here, but further east in PA and NY, early sweet  corn was planted.

Lettuce is ready, carrots coming soon

PLANTING BOXES

     The 1'x2' box in the front is 1/2 transplanted carrots and 1/2 carrot seed   The same sized box in the back is leaf lettuce.  The carrots were started in the house on March 29, and transplanted to the box in the greenhouse on April 28.  More carrot seed was planted in the other half of the box on April 28.  The lettuce was started in the greenhouse on April 13, and has been supplying us with salad since the second week in May.  I moved the boxes outside on May 19.  With some minor changes, which I'll describe when I build them, I'm planning to make more boxes like this for next spring.

COMING SOON
     After the full moon on May 24, I'll be planting more potatoes, carrots, onions and beets.  I'll also be transplanting the broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and flowers from the greenhouse to the garden.  Depending on the room I have left, I'll probably also buy a few more plants.   Lord willing and the creek don't rise, ALMOST everything will be in the ground by the first of June.

Garden Plan 2013

     It's May 11 and there was a coating of snow on the yard and garden when I woke up this morning.  Right on top of the spinach I planted yesterday in California.  No harm done, just a slow start for germination, but I kinda hope it doesn't snow in June.  Sorry, but no pictures.  It all melted by noon.
     In the fall of 2012 I changed my over-all plan generally from beds of 20 feet by 2 1/2 feet, 50 square feet, to plots of approximately 112 to 126 square feet.  My reasoning was two-fold.  1) Too much grass on the edge of the beds tended to creep into the garden, and 2) it gave me more useable growing space.  I still haven't decided where I'm going to plant what, but I'll update as I go.

Main Garden, 2013

     Buildings are outlined in red, chicken yards have sketches of red chickens, fences are lines with X's, grassy areas are indicated by grass symbols, and garden plots by rectangles with state abbreviations.    
     Puerto Rico and Martinique are not shown on this map.  They are located south of the chicken coop and yard, and contain about 480 square feet.  More detail is available by clicking on "Garden Map and Geography" at the top of this page.

California Plot, 2013

     In 2011 and 2012, I had 3 plots, each 8' by 2 1/2 feet, named Washington, Oregon and California.  In 2013 I combined them into a new plot named California, 9 feet by 15 feet.  Crops planted in 2011 and 2012 were as follows:
                                                                                                                                    E
                                                                                                                                N +  S
                             2011                                                                      2012                W
                                                                                                                                                        
|           Corn           Corn          Corn               |       |             S                G                Hungarian    |
|                                                                       |       |             p                 o                    Wax          |
|          Squash        Squash      Squash          |       |              i                 u                   Pepper       |
|                                                                       |       |             n                 r                                      |
|               &                &                &                 |       |             a                 d                    Tomato     |
|           Beans           Beans        Beans          |       |             c                 s                                      |
|                                                                       |       |             h                                        Tomato    |

     In 2013 I covered the plot with manure and straw from the chicken coop and tilled it up.  On May 10, I planted the South 7 feet in Spinach, Burpee Bloomsdale Long Standing.  On the West half of that, I put about 10# of commercial compost directly in the spinach furrows, whereas on the east half I sprinkled about 10# on top after I planted.
     As I have more activities in the California plot, I will add them to this Post.

No Snowstorm here

     Sorry about all that snow you guys are getting down South.  Winter Storm Achilles missed us completely here in Northern Minnesota. 


May 2, snow finally gone

     The plants are all in the greenhouse now.  On nights when it looks like the temperature will go down to freezing or below, I turn on a supplementary electric heater as a precautionary move.  Last Sunday and Monday I re-potted the cabbage and broccoli and planted radishes and potatoes in the greenhouse.  I also tried transplanting the carrots I started earlier into half of a 1'x2' planting box, planting carrot seed in the other half.
     We are now gathering plenty of eggs.  Two days after I switched the chickens from corn to laying mash, they started laying four to five eggs a day instead of one or two.  Next week it's time to clean the henhouse and put in new straw.

Coming Soon

     The moon is in the fourth quarter on May 2nd, so besides cleaning the chicken coop, I plan to get manure down in the garden and till up the area where I'll soon be planting early crops like greens and root crops.  I also hope to get some weeding done in the perennials.  Lord willing, we'll see a little rise in temperatures and I'll start to plant some hardy crops outside at the new moon on May 9th.

Thursday Morning Update

     Yesterday I turned the heater off in the greenhouse during the day, and forgot to turn it back on in the evening.  It was a stupid move, as the heater is thermostatically controlled, and turns off anyway when the temperature gets up to about 40 degrees F.  Anyway, the temperature last night was a few degrees below freezing, about 28 F, and I lost some tomatoes, and squash.  I may have to add starting a few new plants to my schedule in the next week.
     On a more positive note, my friend Dean stopped over today and left me some beautiful plants.  He gets his seeds from Heirloom Seeds (www.heirloomseeds.com), and does a wonderful job starting them off.  The tomato in the center is a "black from Tula", originating from the Ukraine.  I forgot the name of the pepper on the left and the basil on the right, but I'll get those next time I see Dean.  He's going to bring me more tomatoes next week to replace some of those I lost.  Win some, lose some, it all balances out.