From Cold to HOT...

In no time flat!

Early last week was pretty chilly then by the end of the week and into the weekend we jumped over twenty degrees - which is just wrong. How are we supposed to function when the clouds go away and there is blue sky to be seen? Fortunately for me, I didn't have to be stuck indoors all day everyday last week. My goal was to get gardening stuff done. It took all week, but we got it done - well, started.

A couple of weeks ago, the weather wasn't so bad so Tom rototilled the area that was mostly "free range" last year. The area is approximately 24' x 55' at least that is what I am remembering. My plan is to just have rows that are 30" wide by around 15' long. Well, the length went longer the further down we went. Doesn't matter, I'm not going to be all weird about the garden. Well, not totally.

By the end of last week this is what we had - this is the side that is closest to the house.

By late morning on Saturday we had all of the raised beds dug out! That would be thirteen total. Yep THIRTEEN! It was a lot of work, but we got it done and the planting could begin!

On Sunday after returning home from church I got to work! It was pretty warm by the time I got started - so I took a lot of breaks.

The whole thing is a work in progress with pretty much everything being an experiment. The dimensions will be a new thing for us and I'm hoping that all will work out. If not, we just call it a learning experience and move on the next season.

Anyway, with 13 raised beds I have a lot of space to grow all sorts of stuff! The first day of planting was all about the tomato plants that I started earlier this year. I ended up with 15 tomato plants with 4 different varieties. Each variety occupies space in one of the raised beds. Each bed will also have plants that will play well with the tomatoes (i.e. Borage, Onions, or Greens). Since we had rain for almost all of the spring, I am hoping that the sunshine will be with us for an extended period of time. Some rain will be nice so I don't have to water as much, but more sun wouldn't be a bad thing.

Here is the break down of the varieties/plants that are in the beds so far:

• Mortgage Lifter (4) - a favorite from last year. A nice slicing tomato which kind of took it's time to finally produce fruit, but once it did, we had a lot of them!
• San Marzano (4) - this is a new one for our garden this year. This is in lieu of the Roma Tomato that we had in the hoop house. I wasn't disappointed with the romas, I thought I would try something a little different, but kind of the same.
• Blush (3) - this was a variety that I got last summer from Johnny's Seeds. Go HERE to check it out.
• Garden Peach (4) - this was too interesting to pass up. From Uprising Organics. Check it out HERE

The planting went well ONCE I got the goose to stop trying to nip at the plants.

It's hard to stay upset with these little creatures - they are too stinkin' cute!

Once I was able to deter his little bill from nipping at the plants, he decided to settle in nearby and just watch. He may have been plotting, it's hard to tell.

The other thing that I was able to get done was the potatoes. Those were purchased a few weeks ago and just sitting in the fridge until it was time. I was pokin' around on Pinterest one day and found a very interesting method for growing potatoes - laundry baskets. We have done a couple of different ways - the traditional dig a trench, drop in a piece of potato and cover with soil until new growth and cover. With the potatoes actually being hilled up at least six inches or more. The first time would be way back when we lived in a rental house not far from our current home. We had potatoes galore! A couple of years ago after reading an article in Mother Earth News or the Farmer's Almanac magazine we thought we would try to grow them under straw, but that wasn't nearly as successful and there were only a few potatoes. Last year we used a bulb planter which worked great - we didn't dig a trench, or maybe not much of a trench. The harvest was pretty plentiful, but once we got through all of the plants, we kind of wished we had planted more.

I'm not sure how well the laundry basket method will work, but I have a lot of extras which will be planted in a traditional manner just to be sure we have a decent crop of potatoes.

I just can't bear to get rid of good seed potatoes - I have quite a few pieces that have eyes that have sprouted. We'll put those in the front yard that needs a second rototilling.

The weather has been cooperating, however it is a little warm. Too warm really - I am not a heat loving person. I like the sun, but I would happily do without the heat of anything above the high 80s.
The temps have cooled the past couple of days which has been very pleasant in the evening. Which makes for an enjoyable time of sowing seeds and putting plants into the raised beds.

This week I have been working on getting the other Tomato friendly seeds or plant into the garden and thinking of what to plant next. I'll be trying succession planting this year and even starting seeds for the Fall/Winter garden at a more appropriate time and not at the end of summer like last season. I think that with our garden season just now starting up I'll be starting new things for later this year in a couple of months.

The dudes will be much bigger and possibly no longer free ranging with me in the garden. It will be harder to keep Mr. Lenny away from the plants. I supposed a little taste here and there wouldn't be  a problem though.

as of today these two are 29 days old!