By the end of last year's garden season, Maggie and I were exhausted. We spent the latter part of the summer canning every weekend, and several weeks in October preparing the garden for winter. Within a month, however, we were planning for the next garden season. We drew up a plan, so we could decide what new plants we wanted to try and what needed to be rotated. For example, we tried to plant ground cherries beneath the cucumber trellis, and they did not do well, so we are moving them to an open area of the garden. The plan also helped us to think about what seeds we wanted to start and what to buy as seedlings. We had a hard time finding tomatillos last year, so that ended up on the seed starting list. We also decided to start seeds for broccoli and cauliflower, so we could plant more of those, and also try a couple of varieties of eggplant. We started just a couple of varieties of tomatoes. One of these was supposed to be Beam's Yellow Pear tomatoes, but somehow I accidently planted an extra cell pack of tomatillos. Fortunately, we have seen yellow pear tomatoes at several garden centers, so we will not miss out.
We spent time in April and May preparing the garden. Maggie cultivated some of the raised beds and planted peas, beets, carrots, radishes, kale, chard, and lettuce. I rented a tiller and broke ground on a couple of new beds. Those beds were started last year by using old tin roofing material to shade grass each season to create garden beds. The tin was moved to create the final phase of garden beds, for strawberries and raspberries next year. We picked up some compost from a neighbor and purchased straw bales from a local farmer for mulch. This weekend, we will get most of the beds planted, and next weekend the tender plants such as tomatoes and peppers will go in the ground.
The garden looks like a clean slate, within only a few radishes and peas poking up. Within a month, it will be filled with green, and in two months it will hopefully be overflowing. Assuming we get more rain, of course. The weather station has been installed, so at least we can measure whatever rain we get.
Comments