Friday, March 29, 2013

Slow And Steady

It has been such a beautiful week that I keep going out every day and working for an hour or two. Some years I feel like I have to get it done right away, but I just don't feel the rush this year. It could be the weather forecast. The next three days are forecasted to be in the mid 50Fs and Monday in the 60s before we get a cool down. I want to be out everyday. I know mid 50s are close to normal this time of the year, but since planting has been late this year because of all the snow, the weather feels better than average. I'm doing this at the end of March instead of mid March. You might think this would make me want to rush it all the more, but last year I did a succession of pea planting and found that peas planted three weeks late end up producing only one week later than the early ones. I'm also getting older. Doing things in small batches means no aches and pains at all. I like that.

Yesterday's chore was to prepare two beds. Both were aerated (with a garden fork as I don't have a broadfork) and fertilized. One bed was the fava beans. One year planted these 6" apart and I thought it didn't give the favas a lot of chance to develop. So now I'm planting them 9" apart. I keep wondering if 8" is better. Once I had them laid out in a grid I pushed the seeds down about 1 1/2". As you can see I only plant one bean at a spot. I know a couple won't come up. If I'm smart when I see the first one starting to push up the soil, I should presprout a couple more seeds to replace the ones that don't come up. I've never done that before, but it would be useful.

The other bed I prepared was the Asian greens bed. I think of it like that but this year it is going to have kohlrabi too and maybe some lettuce. The very early Asian greens were hardened off and ready to plant. So these are the first transplants to go in. They were started on March 8th, so they only had three weeks to grow. I find most of my greens and brassicas only need that amount of time. I don't need huge transplants, and these particular ones are quick greens that mature in 40-49 days. Now that they are in the ground they can flourish.

After they were planted I put my row cover over it for protection. Which reminds me. I have to get my row cover over my newly planted spinach. I should have done that when I planted. Maybe today.

8 comments:

  1. I hope you don't get any storms, because that row-cover looks pretty vulnerable!
    We had a couple of hours of sunshine today - the first for quite a while - so I was out there preparing my raised beds too.

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  2. I need to take a lesson from you and not feel rushed. Last year I was able to plant earlier than usual so this year I feel late! Did get the raspberry bushes trimmed back today. Everything looks nice there and I am wishing a you a successful gardening year. Have a blessed Easter! Nancy

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  3. We only have large box stores near me. What kind of row cover do you have? They only have plastic here. Please advise where to buy?
    Cheers,
    Louise

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    1. I use two kids of row covers. I use Agribon. It is cheaper but doesn't last. The thinnest kind rips a lot and I have to constantly repair it. I don't find I can use this multiple years if it is on all year long. The second kind is very expensive. http://www.veggiecare.com/products.html
      But it lasts longer. It doesn't rip. I'm on my second year now, so far it has held up. I still can't recommend it until I've had it for more years to make sure the price is worth it (though even with replacing Agribon every year, this has to last about 10 years I think before this is as cheap), but so far so good. The wind and rain seem to go through it better. But it can let flee beetles in as they are small enough to get through the mesh. I like it because I have to repair the Agribon all the time, and this I can put it on and forget it. I just hope it lasts.

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  4. How do you manage to get your onion seedling so thick? Mine are just so skinny.

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    1. I think it is the Vermont Compost Company's Fort V mix. All my seedlings have grown better and get larger than they used to. It works extremely well with the soil blocks I use.

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  5. Thanks for sharing. Do you have a subscription button?

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    1. Usually but with the problems with my blog they were all removed with all the other widgets. I'll be putting one back in probably at the end of the week, maybe before.

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