March 22, 2011 - A Full Day in the Garden

Finally, a full day outside. It only rained on me once, so I got quite a bit done.

First of all, I got all the boxes painted and the paths around them weeded and raked up to, but not including, the strawberry bed. The 4' x 8' strawberry bed and the 2' x 8' pole bean bed (not shown) are all that are left to do in the north garden.

I attached the plastic fencing fabric to the hoops on the 3' x 4' lettuce bed, to keep the birds out. The front and back are just held in place with clothes pins, for easy removal, but the rest of it is permanent. I ran out of room after putting 28 lettuce plants in this bed, so I dug an area next to it for seven spinach plants.

Six more lettuce plants found a home under the garden ladder.

The lilies, next to the garden ladder, are up. They got a bit of composted cow poo, as well as some wire frames to hold them upright as they grow.

The new split level bed was planted with Romaine lettuce, shallots and garlic. Before planting, I used an 18" basket to mark where the broccoli (5) will be planted (bottom bed) and a 16" bucket to mark where the cabbages (8) will go (upper bed). Then I planted the garlic and shallots in the areas that weren't covered by the circles. The Romaine lettuce (6) went between the circles, and will be eaten before the cabbages need the room.

I still had 8 lettuce transplants left, so they went between the tomato buckets in the bed where the turnips, spinach and radishes were planted earlier.

My last outdoor job was to haul a couple of wheelbarrows of composted cow poo to the raspberry bed. The canes are beginning to show quite a bit of new green, so it won't be long before they are nice and bushy.

When I planted the tomato and pepper seeds, I only filled the little cups half full of potting mix. They have now grown tall enough to finish filling the cups with more mix. You can see in this photo where the "old" soil level was, and how much dry mix was added.

I'm so proud of me. These are all of the tomatoes and peppers I started this year, and those four cups on the right are dill!

Now I have to eat dinner, which thankfully is simmering away in the crockpot. I got so busy today, I forgot to eat. No wonder I got so much done, I'm running on a tank full of caffeine! After dinner, I'll give the tomatoes and peppers a good drink of weak chamomile tea, then put all the plants to bed under the lights for the night. Then I think I'll be putting myself to bed.....early!