Garden Update
Posted by Rachel F on Friday, February 25, 2011
Today was a great day out in the yard. It threatened to rain all day long making it super humid out there, but what do you expect? It's Louisiana!
Rhino woke up and had bananas and oatmeal for breakfast. Eh, he likes it. Then we headed outside for the day.
I marked off the yard to show where my garden will be. Oooh, this is the first year I will have a garden that won't be in the flower beds. Yay! I made four 4'x8' rectangles each 4 feet apart from each other. That way, my hubby can still get the lawnmower in between the rows. I tilled up the first of the beds and added my composted cow manure to it. I plan on planting corn in this bed sometime in the next week. When I till up grass, I usually like to wait a week to make sure that all the bits of grass are actually dead before I start planting in it. I've heard that if I plant the corn now instead of waiting until April, it will have a better chance against the bugs. We'll see.
Once the corn gets planted, I'm going to plant pole beans and squash in the same bed. It's called a 3 Sisters Garden. The corn acts as the pole the beans climb, and the squash shades the ground to prevent weeds and retain moisture. Maybe it will work.
I also threw some dirt in an old wheelbarrow I have and threw some lettuce seeds on it. Just some black-seeded Simpson, a leaf lettuce, I think. I hope I remember to water the darn thing.
Onions went into one of the raised beds along the side of the house. I think I planted them too late, so they probably won't get very big before June.
Ten Ozark Beauty strawberry plants went into the front raised bed where the mums are planted. I hope to get about 25 more plants in there in the next couple weeks.
Three days ago I planted peas along the fence by the apple tree. Maybe by Monday I will see some sprouts!
The tomato seedlings are looking great! After I dried out the soil a bit and wiped away as much as I could of the mold, it didn't grow back. They are about 2-3 inches tall now. Since today was a pretty mild day outside, I let them sit outside for a bit to hopefully toughen them up. I want to get them out in the garden during March.
The peach trees have little buds on them! In the next two weeks they will be blossoming! This will be the third year we have had the trees, and with a little luck, we will get to pick our own peaches (and nectarines) and eat them BEFORE the squirrels do!
And I would have taken pictures, but since most of it is underground, nothing to see just yet. But I did draw a great representation of my yard. Here ya go:
Rhino woke up and had bananas and oatmeal for breakfast. Eh, he likes it. Then we headed outside for the day.
I marked off the yard to show where my garden will be. Oooh, this is the first year I will have a garden that won't be in the flower beds. Yay! I made four 4'x8' rectangles each 4 feet apart from each other. That way, my hubby can still get the lawnmower in between the rows. I tilled up the first of the beds and added my composted cow manure to it. I plan on planting corn in this bed sometime in the next week. When I till up grass, I usually like to wait a week to make sure that all the bits of grass are actually dead before I start planting in it. I've heard that if I plant the corn now instead of waiting until April, it will have a better chance against the bugs. We'll see.
Once the corn gets planted, I'm going to plant pole beans and squash in the same bed. It's called a 3 Sisters Garden. The corn acts as the pole the beans climb, and the squash shades the ground to prevent weeds and retain moisture. Maybe it will work.
I also threw some dirt in an old wheelbarrow I have and threw some lettuce seeds on it. Just some black-seeded Simpson, a leaf lettuce, I think. I hope I remember to water the darn thing.
Onions went into one of the raised beds along the side of the house. I think I planted them too late, so they probably won't get very big before June.
Ten Ozark Beauty strawberry plants went into the front raised bed where the mums are planted. I hope to get about 25 more plants in there in the next couple weeks.
Three days ago I planted peas along the fence by the apple tree. Maybe by Monday I will see some sprouts!
The tomato seedlings are looking great! After I dried out the soil a bit and wiped away as much as I could of the mold, it didn't grow back. They are about 2-3 inches tall now. Since today was a pretty mild day outside, I let them sit outside for a bit to hopefully toughen them up. I want to get them out in the garden during March.
The peach trees have little buds on them! In the next two weeks they will be blossoming! This will be the third year we have had the trees, and with a little luck, we will get to pick our own peaches (and nectarines) and eat them BEFORE the squirrels do!
And I would have taken pictures, but since most of it is underground, nothing to see just yet. But I did draw a great representation of my yard. Here ya go: