Digging in the dirt, Update #3

As my official record-keeping diary for this year's garden,

I will be updating this post with additional information

as I plant, tend, and harvest.

Top to bottom=newest to oldest entries.

May 23, 2021

Wouldn't you know it; after I wrote the update below, our good neighbors on the east side emailed me to say they had leftover white and red seed onions. Did I want them? Why not?

So this morning I walked down, and was handed not only a carton of seed onions (plus a couple of bigger ones) but also some little red (and maybe Yukon Gold) potatoes starting to sprout. I carried them home and set about rejiggering my watering system before planting. My goal is to have set watering lines and soaker hoses so all I have to move is the supply hose; that increases the likelihood of regular watering and decreases the potential damage to plants. Rick had purchased a soaker hose last year that I never pressed into service, so I retrieved that, connected it to the old soaker hose, and turned on the water. Interesting; the new hose releases water much quicker than the old one. Wanting consistent delivery, I disconnected them and gave each a dedicated task. Then I laid out and planted my onion row, which is really an onion "L" (hey, I had to get a little creative with space – I even tucked a few in the arugula/kale row!).

Now my dilemma is what to do with the potatoes. All my water lines and soaker hoses are in use and I am not sure where to plant them. The most logical spot is tucked between the east fence and the first row of bush beans – I think. Stay tuned; this year's garden is getting full! (Weird warping in pano shots but good documentation for me.)

May 21, 2021

Yesterday after work I stopped by the farm store where I purchased my lonely tomatillo plant to get it a mate. Good thing I only needed one, because there was only one left! I also picked up an Armenian cucumber, and sugar pod pea seeds. This morning, I got it all planted.  That will fill up our little space pretty well if everything grows, although if someone offers me some stray starts, I'll find a place to tuck them in somewhere. But no other additions are planned.

I don't think I've ever grown English or Armenian cucumbers before, but since cucumbers have never done well for me here (although better than winter squash!), I figured I might as well try something different. As I said in the comments, this is a kitchen garden, not a pantry garden; if I get enough of anything to preserve I count it a bonus, so I grow cukes for fresh eating and in salads. These are both supposed to be mild with fewer seeds, so that's a plus.

While thumbing through my recipe box looking for my butternut lasagne recipe, I started anticipating my zucchini harvest. I was a little alarmed (my guys would be really alarmed!) when I planted a six-pack of spineless zucchini starts, only to realize I already had a seed packet of three colors of zucchini. Three hills of zucchini?!? Well, I have neighbors who love handouts, and I have a LOT of recipes that feature this versatile vegetable. Breads, cakes, fritters, casseroles, vegetarian 'burgers,' salads, stir-fry, pasta dishes – even candy! And not every year has been a great zucchini year, so three big hills just might be enough for all I want to make with them.

May 18, 2021

I haven't let that lovely tilled garden dirt stay idle for long. After work yesterday I went shopping for starts, coming home with six tomato plants, four eggplants, a pot of parsley and of English cucumber, a six-pack of spineless zucchini (which I wouldn't have purchased had I  remembered the fancy tri-color zucchini seeds I bought 🙄), a six-pack of arugula, and a six-pack of kale. I came home, laid out our water lines and planted about half the starts yesterday afternoon. This morning on my way to ride Stella at the fairgrounds, I picked up a tomatillo, three bell peppers, and some more tomato cages (for the eggplant, tomatillo, and peppers). This afternoon I finished planting all the starts, including the three pots of basil I bought earlier, put in two hills of assorted zucchini seeds and two rows of bush beans – one of tricolor bush beans and one from seed I saved but didn't label, and laid out soaker hoses. The fancy tricolor mixes of zucchini and bush beans I purchased earlier this spring; they looked like fun. There is a row prepped for sugar pod peas and a hill prepped for another variety of cucumbers; I'll buy those seeds on Thursday.

Below are two panoramic shots I took of the almost completed garden, the first taken from the NW corner and the second from the SE corner. Instead of orienting my rows east-west (uphill-downhill), I ran them north-south this year. I also laid out some pieces of 'dryer felt,' left over from covering our horse stall floors, between the berry canes and the tomatoes to reduce weeds, and plan to utilize some more. Both photos also show the baneberries on the south side, the rhubarb (probably ecstatic to be getting watered now!) in the SW corner, and the strawberry patch in the NE corner.

And here are all the things planted (except the basil and the unlabeled saved bush bean seeds) for my own documentation. The only one of these that is for sure an exact repeat planting (besides the saved seeds) is the Redbor kale; I planted it once before and really like it, so nabbed a six-pack when I saw it.

two of these

three of these

That's almost it for the start of the 2021 garden at . . .