Tuesday, April 12, 2011

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Susannah and I went to MOPS yesterday morning, and when we got home we hit the ground running. We hurried through lunch and then headed out to the garden to get some much needed work done.

Last week we were finally able to borrow the tractor and big tiller, and Daniel tilled the rest of the garden. I forgot to ask him to add a new stripe or two to the (far) end, so he'll do that before we return the tiller.


Yesterday my #1 goal was to get my broccoli and cauliflower plants in the ground. I started them from seeds - my first year starting everything - and we'll see how they do! I didn't realize I had twice as many cauliflower plants as broccoli - 14 cauliflowers and 8 broccoli. This is also my first year for growing either of these so we'll see how it goes.

My #2 goal was to get some greens in the ground. From left to right:
(2) rows of head lettuce
(2) rows of Romaine lettuce
and then the 3 close together rows are beets, spinach and beets.
I assume the beets and spinach will do ok like that :) They don't require as much space as the lettuces, so after I planted the 2 rows of beets I decided the spinach would fit perfectly right down the middle.

It took me two weeks of working on it here and there, but I finally got all the pea fence up. We use fence panels which are MUCH easier to handle than box-wire. It is a hefty investment up front because they are not cheap, but they should last all of my gardening lifetime and beyond. This year I doubled the amount of peas and we were blessed with the opportunity to buy more t-posts and panels very inexpensively from a farmer who wasn't using them anymore.
(A top item on my Christmas list this year is going to be a post driver!! My arm muscles and wrist got way more of a workout than I ever wanted, pounding those posts in with a sledgehammer!)

After I finished all the planting I had a little daylight left and decided to start pulling the weeds from the first row of peas. There was about a foot-wide strip on one side that hadn't been worked at all this year and I managed to get all the weeds pulled from that before it was time to quit. It looks so much better now!

I have pepper plants eager to get into the dirt, tomatoes are waiting for consistently warm temperatures, and I started some eggplant last week. I need to get squash and zucchini started, and I need to get beans planted very soon, too.

This is the biggest garden I've done in a while - I hope I can keep up with it and help it produce all that I want to get from it. Of course only God can make it grow and bear!

I am linking to Phoebe's Frugal Gardening 101 Series - 3 moms sharing their frugal gardening experience! Check it out!

14 comments:

Lucy said... [Reply to comment]

I am jealous of all the food you're going to have this summer!!!! And the peas look delicious already!!!

Candi said... [Reply to comment]

Your garden looks great! You should link it up to Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage.

Cate @ Liberal Simplicity said... [Reply to comment]

I have garden envy!! We plan to start our first one this weekend...I'm excited but a little intimidated.

Maria D. @ DownrightDomesticity said... [Reply to comment]

Your garden looks beautiful! My parents always planted a garden, and I LOVED wandering through in the summer and eating all that homegrown stuff right off the vine!

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

i need to go out and check on my peas. the last time i looked they were up but just sitting still, but we havent had near the warm weather ya'll have. I want to go look and see if they grew while we were in Charlottesville cause it was supposed to be really warm while we were gone. julia

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

hey i just realized that it looks like your dirt is really dry. we are really soaked here.

Miriam said... [Reply to comment]

@Anonymous Julia, yes it is pretty dry. We were supposed to get T-showers today/tonight/tomorrow, but as the day went on the less it looked like rain. This evening I went out and watered what I put in yesterday. I might need to start watering the peas, too.

i cant decide said... [Reply to comment]

Looks good. You have lots of peas, yummy! I think your spinach and beets should be fine. I'm sending my best gardening thoughts your way!

Phoebe @ GettingFreedom said... [Reply to comment]

I'm totally jealous of your garden! It looks fantastic, and you've gotten a lot done! Blake always eats mud pies and rock sandwiches when I go out to the garden--so I barely get anything done until the big kids come home. Definitely a hard adjustment for me!

Thanks for linking up! :)

Katie said... [Reply to comment]

Your garden is looking great. Wow, you are going to have lots of peas! If I lived next door I'd be coming over and stealing a few handfuls, peas are my fav! I can't believe how dry your soil is, we are still very soggy here.

Smockity Frocks said... [Reply to comment]

It looks awesome! I love the fork marker!

Miriam said... [Reply to comment]

@Katie That's the plan, to have a lot of peas! I've never been able to get enough to last through the winter, so this year I planted double what I'd been planting.

Miriam said... [Reply to comment]

@Smockity Frocks Connie, hey, they were lying around and I didn't have anything else suitable... so why not? ;)

Sally said... [Reply to comment]

Your garden looks beautiful! I hope you can get it watered enough to support all the plants (or else that God sends you enough rain). I wish I had your ambition and energy (or adrenaline).