It's been a wonderful vacation. Ten wonderful days. When we got to Edgar's Acres on the 18th the Rhody was all in bud. Today, it's showing off it's beautiful colors. This Rhody likes where it is now. It was in the front of the house but we moved it before bringing in the new house.
It's been a week of planting and planning. Yesterday Susan and I planted our onions and potatoes.
All of the new raised beds have now been planted. These beds were planted with peas and carrots. We are going to have LOTS of peas and carrots. Territorial Seed included a package of carrots for donating to the food bank with each order we have received. We've have planted the carrot seeds and will be happy to donate them when it's time to harvest.
The new beds in the west garden were planted with fava beans as a green manure until we plant the broccoli, cabbage and brussel sprouts. David included the corner posts so we can have something to tack the row covers to when we plant. The cabbage moths will be a bit miffed but we love our brussel sprouts and broccoli, so we are taking this measure this year. We also had to move all of these crops out of the primary garden in an effort to eradicate the cabbage moth infestation we had last year in that plot.
The new bed around the NW corner of the deck has been completed and planted with sunflower seeds. We are hoping to provide some shade and a wind break for this summer. The sun in the summer is so intense, and the wind can be pretty strong. We'll see how this works.
The bed for the sweet potatoes has been covered with a brown mulch to warm up the soil. I've never planted sweet potatoes before but we thought we'd give it a try. There are a couple of stubborn tulips so the mulch went around them. It's always nice to have color in the early garden.The other new crop we are planting this year is asparagus. I've been reading up on them in our various reference gardening books and so we built this bed which is 18" x 14'. I prepared the soil underneath it last year with organic mulch, covered it with straw, and then when we were filling up the bed, added more organic mulch and fertilizer. All ready for the asparagus crowns coming in the middle of April, except ...
it's too small. When going through the latest Territorial Seed catalog to order some brown and red mulch, I saw this little book entitled "Grow the Best Asparagus." I went ahead and ordered it to have shipped with the mulch thinking it would be nice to have a booklet on asparagus. Glad I did. For $5.00 this little book is a wealth of information. I've ordered 25 crowns for planting this spring, and we aren't ready.
Each asparagus plant needs room for big roots. The roots go six feet deep and spread out about five feet. The "tiny" raised bed I thought would be perfect is an insult to these wonderful plants. This morning after we had our first cups of coffee I announced to David and Susan what I had read the night before. Time to regroup and think this through.
Where to put this bed, and how big.
This little booklet also speaks as to how large these plants will be and how they can block sun from the rest of the garden. "Block" is the operative word here. David and I have been trying to figure out how to block the view of our back neighbor's yard. Perfect.
This morning we laid out where the asparagus bed will go and covered the area with tarps to start killing off the grass. We'll have to rent a rototiller and take it from there. Anyone out there like to run rototillers?
By my poor planning last fall, we have solved two problems because of these asparagus. Blocking the view of the neighbor's yard, and I now have a prepared bed ready for the 30 gladiolas bulbs Leslie gave me. They are perfect for the little tiny asparagus bed.
We're getting ready to head back to Bellevue and reality. This vacation has been just what we both needed. Glad we took a Spring Break.
TTFN
Sue
it's too small. When going through the latest Territorial Seed catalog to order some brown and red mulch, I saw this little book entitled "Grow the Best Asparagus." I went ahead and ordered it to have shipped with the mulch thinking it would be nice to have a booklet on asparagus. Glad I did. For $5.00 this little book is a wealth of information. I've ordered 25 crowns for planting this spring, and we aren't ready.Each asparagus plant needs room for big roots. The roots go six feet deep and spread out about five feet. The "tiny" raised bed I thought would be perfect is an insult to these wonderful plants. This morning after we had our first cups of coffee I announced to David and Susan what I had read the night before. Time to regroup and think this through.
Where to put this bed, and how big.
This little booklet also speaks as to how large these plants will be and how they can block sun from the rest of the garden. "Block" is the operative word here. David and I have been trying to figure out how to block the view of our back neighbor's yard. Perfect.
This morning we laid out where the asparagus bed will go and covered the area with tarps to start killing off the grass. We'll have to rent a rototiller and take it from there. Anyone out there like to run rototillers?By my poor planning last fall, we have solved two problems because of these asparagus. Blocking the view of the neighbor's yard, and I now have a prepared bed ready for the 30 gladiolas bulbs Leslie gave me. They are perfect for the little tiny asparagus bed.
We're getting ready to head back to Bellevue and reality. This vacation has been just what we both needed. Glad we took a Spring Break.
TTFN
Sue
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