March 14, 2011 - No Harvest Monday

Yes, I did use some of my last year's harvest this past week. We had grilled chicken with home canned barbecue sauce, spaghetti with home canned tomato sauce, meat loaf with frozen diced sweet peppers, pickles, relish and jams. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of anything!

Some people have actually had harvests this week. Be sure to check them out at Daphne's Dandelions!

I'm still battling this sinus infection, but I had to buy my Walla Walla Sweet onion plants this weekend. It's a good thing I did, as there were only a few bunches left, and they had been picked over and were not the best looking plants. I was going to try to keep them in a bucket of soil, just until I was feeling better, but I was worried they might deteriorate even further. So, I took myself out to the garden and dug a bed for the onions. I don't yet have my compost, so this bed didn't get any. Later I'll sift a bit over the top, and I plan on feeding them with fish emulsion to help make up for the lack of added compost. And keep my fingers crossed they do well.

I ended up with a 3' wide by 7' long bed, containing 120 Walla Walla Sweet onions. They are planted in 8 offset rows, with approximately 4" between plants in all directions. Some of the plants were really small, not nearly as nice as the ones I bought last year.


If the weather and my health cooperate, I'll be digging more new beds in this east garden this week. There will be two 7' long beds at this end of the garden, the 3' wide onion bed and a 4' wide bed for (?) whatever (?) next to it. There are flowers to the right of these beds, which is why they have to be a maximum of 7' in length. As the boxes are removed, they will be replaced with 4' x 8' beds that butt right up to the green wire fence, and the planting area to the right, along the chain link fence, will become the new pathway. I should have room for at least four, maybe five, 4' x 8' beds.



The seedlings are doing well. It won't be long before they'll have to have a bed to live in. Most days they can sit outside on the south side of the shed, sheltered from strong winds but getting some benefit from gentle breezes and sunshine. They spend the nights under lights, as it's still getting into the low to mid thirties. I don't pull the plastic down to cover them though, as I want them to stay as cool as possible without freezing.

All of the peppers and three or four of the tomatoes have now germinated. I had to redo my bottom heat light system, as the clear plastic dome wouldn't fit tightly on the flat when it was in the asparagus crates, so the potting mix was drying out. It worked well to just put the lights into an empty flat, then set the flat of seedlings inside that. I also moved them into the laundry room plant window, where they could get more light.

Since I was no longer using the asparagus crates, I decided they could be used as a step stool for Annie and Otto. Yes, I let them back in the bed. Of course, they can't jump that high on their little dwarf legs, so..........

I stacked them together for the proper height, and made a skirt to hide their ugliness.

I added a padded top, and made sure everything was Velcroed snugly into place. Now I need to redecorate the bedroom to match!