Now Our Garden Can GROW

The starts are in the ground.

Let’s back up a couple of days. Prior to planting there was tilling to do. We had hoped to not till and try to preserve the rhizophere of the soil but we just can’t do everything we want when we want to do it.

Michael had already burned the weeds with his new torch but we still needed to add our compost. Our neighbor, Nick, loaned us his walk behind tiller which did a great job….until we added our compost. Just too much stuff for that machine to handle. Thankfully, we were able to run into town and rent a three point tiller attachment for the tractor.

Michael was very pleased with how easily it accomplished the job. Money well spent.

This area was not used last year as garden space. The previous owner had grown grapes and corn here but that wasn’t here when we moved in. Michael added some compost and then tilled it all.

Once the tilling was done Michael laid out the garden according to his plan he drew out on paper. He took into account where we had planted things last year, how much of each thing we were planting this year and what would need to grow UP rather than on the ground.

I’m so excited for this garden to grow. Last year we just stuck what we had in the ground. No aisles and eventually no place to walk. It was really a jungle once it started growing….remember?

The fact that we have added 50% more garden space to our garden should help with the overcrowding.

The planting started on Sunday and I was mostly done preserving our strawberries so I was able to help. Here is what we planted.

The Marconi Peppers that were new to us last year are now a must have in our garden. Stuffed peppers will be on the dinner menu often this summer. I put tomato cages over them so no one would step on them while they were so small.

Pickling cucumbers are also a must. We decided to follow the advice of the seed pack and give them something to grow up. Two T-posts and some wire should work.

We utilized the ladders again for our slicing cucumbers. Joshua took most of that space with his multiple varieties of new cucumbers.

Last year my mother in law gave us some watermelon starts. It was pretty late in the year to get them in the ground but we gave it a shot. They grew to be larger than a soft ball but didn’t have the time to become fully grown. This year we started early. Hoping for luscious watermelon out of our own garden.

Winter squash has its own nice section in which to grow. We have some small ones like Sweet Dumpling and Delicata, and one larger variety called Sweet Meat, but mostly that is filled with Winter Luxury Pumpkin which makes the BEST pumpkin pie EVER (according to everyone who tasted it). I am hoping to have enough to share with friends.

New to us this year is cabbage (homemade sauerkraut!), broccoli and eggplant. Pole beans were planted in the next row but they haven’t started to grow yet.

While doing all this planting I couldn’t help but notice how many Marion Berries we have growing. Michael really trimmed them back in the fall so I am glad to see so many growing.

Here is the area that we added. We planted our tomato and tomatillo starts utilizing our preferred method of keeping the plants upright. Between the two T-posts we put string double wide and, as the plants grow, we train that main stem up between the two strings. On the right side we planted corn. We will plant three maybe four “squares” every two weeks. Very excited to grow corn as we have never had the room.

I’m so excited for this garden to grow. I’ve been waiting MONTHS to get our starts in the ground. Michael is putting in a soaker hose system for watering. It looks like it might be another dry hot summer this year.

I’ll keep you updated on our garden through the summer.

Have the best day!
Karen