Monday 18 April 2016

Garden Prep and More Seeds in the Ground - Beautiful Weekend Weather!


As usual, we've gone from piles of snow to lots of heat in just one week.  It's been quite hot the past two days and I've taken advantage of the nice weather to get some of the garden spaces ready for use.  I've moved the raised beds around a bit as some were getting a lot of grass growing in and around them.  The frames were moved onto an area with no grass and filled with fresh hay, compost and topsoil.  The space where the frames used to be will be turned over and just used as-is (so in-ground garden vs. raised bed).  This activity is also increasing the overall square footage I will have available.

The old hay bales were broken down and replaced with fresh bales.


This particular set up of bales below is new on the south end of my house.  I'll use this for most of the cucurbits.  I had a terrible bout of squash bugs and cucumber beetles last year and I've decided to start off this year in a new location.  I'm pretty sure it won't work, but I'm kind of hoping any bugs that overwintered don't find their way to the new space.


And I've managed to get some seeds sowed as well.  Here is what I planted this weekend:



I expect to sow more beets and carrots over the next month or so to keep them coming all season.  The daikon radish and mustard seeds were an impulse buy last week.  The seeds come from Tourne-Sol, a Quebec-based co-operative farm.  I bought them at an event sponsored by the Canadian Organic Growers association along with the Collards seeds (from The Cottage Gardener).

I have several weeks to go before the average last frost date has passed but everything I've planted so far should be able to handle some light frosts.  I won't be taking chances with the more delicate plants as I lost quite a few last year after getting excited by a bout of warm weather in May.

I'm linking up with Our Happy Acres as part of the Harvest Monday submissions.  Pop on over to see what other gardeners have on the go this week!

10 comments:

  1. It's been warm here too, shorts weather yesterday. The squash bugs and cucumber beetles seem to go in cycles here. I don't know if it is the winter weather or what. Hopefully your moving things around will work. I can't see how it will hurt!

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    1. Yes, beautiful weather everywhere, finally! Let's hope my "cycle" means they skip a year!

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  2. It was an AMAZING weekend, wasn't it? I've been preparing my beds as well but a lot of time was spent on mulching the perennial borders - a long overdue task. I'm hoping to get that finished this week before things in them really start to take off which would make it a much more difficult task. All of a sudden, it's as if I need to do 50 things at once - including getting the straw bales...must get to that this week.

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    1. Yes, I should get at that too (mulch the borders) and keep the grass down. One more to add to the list. It does seem it gets crazy all of a sudden so good to have warm weather to work in.

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  3. So glad to read that you had some beautiful weather to enjoy. Snow to sunshine in one week! It is always exciting to add to your garden and have more room to try new things. I am just as bad as you are about buying impulse things - plants or seeds. But that's part of the fun! I hope next week you can report lots of germination in the garden. Have a great week!

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    1. It is indeed fun to buy new plants that were not part of the plan! I think the expansion of my garden space will allow me to feel a bit better about adding, adding, adding as I run across new plants!

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  4. It looks like you got a lot done, your raised beds are looking good.

    My husband is tilling today. I'm so excited even though the tomatoes and peppers have just begun to sprout.

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    1. Thank you Phuong, I am pretty happy with the raised gardens (for now!). I think I talk a lot about the work that is involved and less about the fun. I am also VERY excited about what is coming up for all of us!

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  5. I'm looking forward to being able to work in the garden. As Dave said, the squash bugs seem to be cyclical. A few years ago we had a big infestation (fueled by gardeners who planted squash and then ignored them). Lately I hardly see them, but you have to stay vigilant.

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    1. Well good to hear a second person state that the bugs are cyclical - they really came down hard on me last year here. So we'll see. As to vigilant, I agree, I need to spend more time earlier in the season to eliminate as many as I can through various methods.

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