I trimmed all the onion plants that I purchased yesterday, cutting a bit off of the roots and the tops, then planted 72 of them in bed #2, which measures 2'x4'. That gave them 3" spacing, which should be fine if I pull every other one for use as spring onions. I still had quite a few onion plants left, so I put another 58 in Bed #4 (another 2'x4' bed) around the pot of cilantro. That was supposed to be where the chives were going, so I guess chives will end up in a pot this year.
Since I had the trenches dug, I decided to go ahead and plant all of the potatoes. Quite a productive day, with a total of 130 onions and 20 hills of potatoes planted.
It still hadn't begun raining, although it was cold and gray, so I cleared out one long pathway in the east garden. There weren't many weeds to hoe out, mostly just raking of leaves and garden litter. I gave today's plantings a good drink of fish fertilizer, but I do hope we get the rain that is forecast, as the gardens are really dry.
Three of the eight beds in this group have now been planted, with potatoes in bed #1, sweet onions in #2, and more sweet onions and cilantro in #4. The cilantro is suffering from the cold nights we've had this week, I may have to start a new pot.
Sounds like a pretty hard day for ya, granny. I've still got a little bit more cleanup to do myself, but mostly leaves around the sides of the boxes. Hope you get some much needed rain...
ReplyDeleteWhoa, Granny! You are totally putting me to shame. That's a ton of work. :)
ReplyDeleteI've got to plant onions and potatoes soon, too... but luckily I have the excuse that it's been raining now for a few days in a row. ;)
Yep, EG...I just took a nap! I'm not used to this hard work after an easy winter ;-)
ReplyDeleteI counted the bags of leaves my neighbor hoisted over the fence, and there were ten of them! Now I just need somebody to start the mower so I can shred and bag them.
Meredith, I'm actually ahead of schedule on the potatoes and onions. Since I'm planting by the moon, it was either today or wait until April 1. I knew the onions wouldn't wait, and even though it's about a week early for my zone, I decided I'd take a chance on the potatoes. I mean, I was already frozen stiff, might as well get it all done with!
ReplyDeleteLook at you go AG!! I will start my onions and potatoes in about a week.....you should come on over to Idaho and show me how it's done :) lol
ReplyDeleteway to go! I'll be putting in my potatoes on St Patrick's Day next week... with a name like Erin (you should see my last name too, LOL) it's tradition to drink a Guinness while planting LOL... is that fence I see to keep dogs and bunnies out of the garden?
ReplyDeleteLOL, Sunny, I'll bet it just comes natural to you. Us old Idaho gals are natural born farmers ;-)
ReplyDelete********
Erin, the fence used to be to keep out the pups, but they are quite well behaved in the garden now. The other end of the fence is wide open...I mean, no fence there. I took it down last fall to get all the squash and tomatoes out of there! We don't have wild rabbits here, so the fencing that's still up holds peas and clematis (if it ever grows, and I can secure the open end if Otto and Annie decide to sleep on my seed beds.
You put me to shame. That's it -- I'm going to cross fingers and get the potatoes in tomorrow and pretend I didn't know what day it was. The onions sound good.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Tor, it's hard to plant potatoes with your fingers crossed ;-)
ReplyDeletehi i am new here just got in from Noelle's. You are a very hardworking gardener. That's a lot of work you had today. You deserve an afternoon of massage and sauna. How i wish we can garden that long also, but in these very hot climate we cannot do that! Even at 7AM it is already very hot and humid. Our provinces had agricultural lands already cracking and crops dried by hectares. Many provinces already declared in a state of calamity because of drying, lack of water even in dams, and they say rain will still be in May. So sorry for the farmers, and for us who eats their crops. ...thanks.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time reading your blog and that was a lot of work! I am "floored"
ReplyDeleteI'm so jealous that you have planted already. I want to do that :>. I will get out today though and put in those spinach seeds. I've been chitting.
ReplyDeleteAnnie, I learn so much from reading your blog! I have a few questions about potatoes... How many are in that bed and how are they spaced? Did you plant them whole or cut? Do you separate varieties or do they get harvested at the same time so it doesn't matter where they go in?
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to watching your garden grow!
Great job there with all that work in the garden, Granny! I've also got some planting planned for this weekend. We've had some rain this week but the weekend forecast is really looking nice. And I have the most awful case of Spring Fever this year LOL
ReplyDeleteGosh Granny, you don't waste any time. That is a whole lot of spuds and onions. I need to find some of those walla walla starts myself as I have never had any luck growing them from seed. We are also fortunate to have a local supplier for potatoes, garlic, seeds, and such...saves a ton of money, perhaps their onions are in.:) Your off to a great start, I can't wait to see your garden grow.
ReplyDeleteGranny, you seem to flout the spacings that the experts in the books give, and get away with it. I thought I was going to push stuff too close together putting plants six inches apart, but you'd get dozens of them in!
ReplyDeleteAndrea, I wish I could find someone to give me that massage!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that you are suffering from heat and drought. I am so lucky to have an unlimited supply of irrigation water for my garden. It hasn't yet become available though, so for now I'll have to use a watering can and carry water from the house.
********
Public Mastication, It's not such hard work when the soil is so soft and friable. The hard part is packing the water from the house to water everything in. The forecast was for rain, but it didn't happen.
********
Daphne, I can't do any more outdoor planting until I get my load of compost. Oh, I might get some radishes tucked into the lettuce bed today. They would make good row markers :-) I'm busy making soil blocks, and getting ready for next week.
********
Gina, the potato bed is 4'x4'. and I planted four rows of 5 potatoes per row. Last year I used the same spacing, but in a slightly smaller bed, and got over 35 pounds of potatoes from 16 plants. The yield would have been greater, but I always dig mine and use as "new" potatoes, rather than let the plants die down. I plant whole potatoes, but buy the smallest ones I can find....egg sized. If I used larger ones, I would cut them and leave at least two eyes in each piece.
********
Judy, I jumped the gun a bit, but I was getting antsy!
********
Mr. H, if I had to pay catalog prices for onions and potatoes, I probably wouldn't grow them!
********
TIG, I basically stick with the spacing on seed packets, but I don't leave space between rows. If it says "four inches apart", I plant four inches apart in all directions in wide rows. If it's something that can be used at a young stage, like onions or carrots or greens, I plant closer and use the thinnings. Here is a page that gives plant spacings:
http://www.essene.com/Vegetarian/PlantSpacingsInASquareFootGarden.htm
I don't agree with all of these, I would give the brassicas 18", rather than 12" spacing, and carrots can be grown much thicker, 2" apart is my maximum, I've had good luck with 1" if I pull every other one to eat early.
Good work AG! I have onions in too already but the potatoes are waiting until the third week of March. I have scheduled some time off from work that week and intend to do my big potato bed planting some time in that week. I have them chitting in the shop and they are forming nice sprouts and will be really ready to go by then.
ReplyDeleteThose onion starts look like they have some really good size on them already!
Gina, I forgot to answer your question about harvesting. I planted my early red potatoes in the first two rows, and the late white potatoes in the second two rows. I harvest them, any time after they blossom, by digging under the plants with my fingers, feeling for potatoes that are large enough. I remove them carefully so as not to damage the plant. Only when the plants begin to die back do I dig them all out.
ReplyDeleteKitsap, being determined to follow this moon planting thingy, it was plant yesterday or today, or wait until April! I wonder under which moon I planted last year...I was very satisfied with that harvest ;-)
ReplyDelete