And Then Comes the Hard Part

I spent the winter drooling over seed catalogs and wishing for spring sunshine.  I imagined all of fun and satisfaction my garden would give me come spring. However, I did forget about the painful, back-aching and all over soreness that comes first.  How soon we forget. I guess it's like child birth from what I hear and you forget about all the pain when you see your plants begin to grow and produce tasty treats...Well I haven't forgotten yet :) the ache in my back and arms keeps reminding me.

This weekend, I pulled a weekend warrior and got the winter garden cleaned up, turned over and fed the soil and prepared for the my spring garden.  The weather wasn't as beautiful as it had been during the work week (Murphy's Law) but it was warm enough for me to be drenched in sweat within 30 minutes (Heck, I could have cancelled my morning workout at the gym had I remembered I'd be working this hard).  The survivors of the winter clean-up were the Onions (which are doing marvelous this year),  the Chard and Leeks.  The Collard Greens had begun to flower so, I harvested the tender leaves and pruned them down in preparation for spring growth.

Winter Garden Remains

Rainbow Chard and White Onions

Every year I try my hand at starting my own seedlings for those hard to find veggies. (Sometimes they make it sometimes they don't).  This year I started Black Eyed Peas, Soy Beans, Thai Egglplant, Celery and Moth Beans. I usually use one of those 75 plant greenhouses placed on top of a seedling heating mat underneath a grow light.  This has worked very well for me over the years to sprout my seeds rather quickly.

Emerging Peas and Seedlings

After the heavy labor was done on Saturday, my hubby and I went to Lowe's on Sunday to start picking up my "bought" seedlings.  Now mind you, I had already drooled over all the nice plants on my preview trips to my 2 nearby Lowe's and Home Depot stores  and had my list in hand.  To my disappointment, a lot of the plants looked a bit bedraggled and the Bok Choi and Beets I had been eyeing were nowhere in sight.  My treasure hunt only turned up a few Green and Red Leaf Lettuce flats, Marigolds, Sweet Basil, Onion Chives (We already had tons of Garlic Chives in the herb garden) and Box Leaf Basil.  At that point I knew I'd have to go store hopping and hope the selection was better.  My poor husband wasn't up for it, having recently gotten over the "crud" (fondly known by everyone as the cold/flu ailment that  is going around) and I let him go home.

So I was off on my own and after a trip to two Home Depots and another Lowe's, I hit pay dirt at Orchard Supply.  I loaded up the back of my  crossover ( better known as the mini van) with Walla Walla and Red Onion sets, Spinach, Fennel, Egglplant, Broccoli, Thyme, Texas Tarragon, Pinapple Basil, Kentucky Pole Beans, Soy Beans, Bunching Onions, and Greek Oregano.  Still no Bok Choi or Beets though :(.

With veggie booty in hand, I drive up and my hubby and Remy (the pomeranian) greet me planning on giving me a hand. As the back hatch slowly opens, my "help" heads back into the house after seeing this load was going to take more than 5 minutes to unload and they had ice cream "melting" inside. 3 hours later I had "most" of my treasures nestled in their new homes complete with a splash of Bone Meal, Blood Meal, Kelp Meal and ground feathers.  I had previously amended the ground with Steer and Chicken Manure.

Soy Beans, Tarragon and Baby Chard                       Green Leaf Lettuce in front of Kentucky Green Beans

 

By dusk on Sunday the garden was planted and watered and the only thing left to do was wait another week or so for the soil to be warm enough for my peppers and tomoatoes and I'd be set. Except I still needed to find a home for the rest of the veggies I'd bought with wild abandon not taking into account my current garden space (as I do every year :)). Now what's fennel not compatible with?

The leftovers

This week....the herb garden, the leftovers and the drip system, stay tuned...

On Your Mark Get Set --Dig

Spring is my favorite time of year and this year I promised myself I'd try grow bigger and better veggies than the previous year (like I do every year :). So I'm really trying to go all organic this year without giving in to the pressures of the mighty garden pests that make me go ballistic like the slugs, horn worms and ugly little black and orange beetles I have yet to figure what they are.


So I spent all weekend pulling the dreadful weeds my husband warned me to stay on top of during the winter (which I didn't). Who likes to pull weeds in the muddy garden? The remains of my half hearted attempt at a winter garden actually thrived through the cold in between all the weeds. My collard and mustard greens are tender and juicy and my onions are rounding out nicely. The sugar peas and daikon didn't fair so well. I had 3 ft stalks on the daikon with skinny little 1 inch roots..what the heck is that all about? And the poor peas were so tangled up in the weeds I finally gave up and yanked them out and tossed them in the bin with the rest of the weeds.

But springtime is a time for me to turn over a new leaf (literally). Deciding what to plant is easy, trying not to plant enough food to feed a small army is much more difficult especially since it's just my husband and I.

Stay tuned for the veggie selections and the journey to organic gardening.  Is bood meal and bone meal really bad?