May 1st Weekend

Great weather this weekend, tomatoes are in the cold frame, top off during the day. Seedlings in the garage are all doing well, although peppers and eggplants are very slow to come up.

Fertilized in the garden this weekend, and planted beets, carrots and scallions. Prepped space for the next batch of lettuce to go out.

First lettuces are about four inches across now, and radishes are starting to show first signs of bulbing. We are also seeing the first flowers on the strawberries this week, and blueberries have been in bloom for about the last week.

That's this weekend in the garden.

Weekend Planting and Potatoes!

Last weekend potatoes went in, lettuce was transplanted outside, and peppers, eggplants, a couple additional tomatoes, and another round of lettuce was all started in the garage.

The kids garden is starting to come up, with lettuce, radishes, and today the first peas peaking through.

The kale is wrapping up, the flower buds (garden broccoli) have been picked over a couple times, leaving only very small additional buds. Over the next two weeks, all of the kale will likely be pulled out. With luck, we will only be a couple weeks away from our first garden lettuce salads by then!

The picture shows the potato beds in front, and a few spots in back that have been planted, including the lettuce. Looking forward to seeing the garden all covered in green.

Children's Garden

The first phase of the kids' garden was planted last night, with little two-year-old fingers planting peas carefully in each spot. In addition to peas, the kids' garden (consisting of a couple pots on the back porch) now has radishes and lettuce planted.

As it continues to warm, the kids' garden will probably have carrots, more lettuce, and possibly potatoes (great to tip the pot over and let them paw through the dirt to find all the potatoes!)

Prepping the Cold Frame

Every year I eye the fancy cold frames advertised in various catalogs, but I just can't justify shelling out $100 (or more!) for a manufactured cold frame. It was easy to build, and has been serving me well for more than four years now.

Making something similar is simple and cheap, and at least in our mild NW Oregon springs, seems to provide all the protection I need. I built a simple box, with the back taller than the front, from leftover outdoor plywood, and a frame that fits over the top and rests on cleats on the front and back.

Each year, I stretch a new piece of 3mil plastic over the frame. I've found that attaching it with duct tape and then stapling through the duct tape works best, the duct tape holds the plastic in place so it can be pulled tight, and reinforces the plastic when it is stapled, reducing the chance of tears. One small roll of plastic is enough to cover the frame four times.

In total, the coldframe is about three by five feet, and every year has successfully sheltered tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and more from cold spring nights. If you don't already have one, try building your own.

Starting the Summer Seeds

Last weekend was the first planting weekend, with tomatoes and tomatillos being started in the garage under lights. Spring peas, parsley and onions have already been in for a couple weeks. Its a muddy mess still in the garden, but spring is coming!

Varieties planted include Oregon Spring, Stupice (becoming a favorite), Momotaro and of course Sun Gold cherry tomatoes.

Next on the list of garden tasks is to start lettuce and the spring flowers, and to plant another row of peas outside in the garden.

April in the Garden

April is the month when the garden starts to take shape. Peas, greens and onions can be started earlier, and tomatoes can be started indoors, but the garden beds start to take shape in April. If the weather breaks in late March, or if you are a purebred Oregonian and thus immune to rain, its a good time to prepare garden beds.

Vegetables to start outdoors in April:
Beets and Swiss Chard
Radishes
Carrots
Potatoes
Cabbage
Broccoli
Cauliflower

April is also the time to start peppers and eggplants indoors, and it isn't too late to start tomatoes yet indoors.

Towards the end of April, I'm always anxious to get summer squash going (even though I know we will be sick of it come September), and usually plant at least hill one under a clear milk jug. To be kind, the results of this early planting have been mixed, and a hill planted two weeks later usually has squash at about the same time. But it always feels good to try.

Gardening in a swamp?

Talking to my neighbor about the small 'drainage problem' we are learning about in our first winder on our property this week, I found out our house is built on an old swamp. No wonder the garden is still soggy wet, even after a little bit of decent weather. The water isn't standing in the garden, but it is not 'merely wet' either.

I'm normally against building high raised beds (they are expensive and difficult to work), however I may have to break down and bring in soil and build beds in order to have the garden dry out before June!

The peas are not coming up very well, and digging up a few seeds, they are basically just rotting in the cold, wet soil before they can sprout. Time to a last effort to plant peas inside to get them started and then transplant them out, and in the future, note to self to chit all early seeds to give them a head start.