58 and Sunny

Today was a beautiful day for gardening and getting ready for the summer. Darren is revamping Garden #1 by putting in new posts and building a gate (yea!). Last year we got a bunch of scraps from the railroad bed after they redid everything down there and never cleaned their junk pile up. The posts you see are the things the insulators sit on and are quite sturdy. This morning, Darren went back down to the railroad and scavenged some more old planks and insulator posts, and by the time I got up, he already had them cut in half.

I felt ready to see some seeds in the ground, so yesterday I planted carrots (2 different kinds-Scarlet Nantes and Tendersweets) and candy onions. We got Garden #2 ready yesterday in the wind, so the furthest front bed was ready for the lettuce (2 different kinds-iceburg and head lettuce). Then I spent the rest of my day figuring out how to make trellises for the peas to grow up from all the free stuff we got from Jeremiah. After that, I planted peas, then decided I had received enough sun for the day and came in for Fig Newtons.

The seedlings are still looking okay. The corn most definitely did not like the wind we had over the past few days, and it is looking pretty raggedy-assed. Some of the re-potted tomatoes aren't looking too happy, either, but that's good because we planted a ton, so we can weed out the weak ones.

Spring Break

Even though we have done some garden preparation before today, today I really felt like planting time is coming. Darren dug up Garden #1 two weeks ago, and I dug up the unfrozen parts of Garden #2 on March 16th, but today I smoothed out and got one of the beds in Garden #2 ready for planting. It's time to plant some peas, but the weather isn't going to be all that great at night, so I decided to wait.

Current Expected Night Temperatures

• 3/26- 32 degrees
• 3/27- 28 degrees
• 3/28- 32 degrees
• 3/29- 38 degrees
• 3/30- 42 degrees
• 3/31- 42 degrees
• 4/1- 38 degrees
• 4/2- 36 degrees
• 4/3- 35 degrees

The daily highs are expected to be 46-70 degrees (average daily of 61), so the ground will not freeze. I'm not worried about that, but I don't want to shock my little seedlings. I plan to plant peas, carrots, potatoes, and some lettuce in Garden #2 by April 1st, but this will take a lot of work and some help from Darren. I started transplanting the grass on the south side so we can extend Garden #2, but it was a tiny little patch I dug up and transplanted, and it took me forever. It was hard to bend down over my pregnant belly, so I may have to wait for Darren's help to begin tackling this again.

Garden Timeline

Sweet Baby Girl Tomatoes
February 4th

• 2/4- Planted 4 Sweet Baby Girls in round peat pots
• 2/17- 2 germinated
• 2/20- 2 germinated
• 3/16- Repotted and fertilized one. Took all outside
• 3/25- Repotted one more. Fertilized. All are now staying in the garage and being hauled out into the sun every day because I didn't use sterile soil, and the gnats were beginning to present themselves inside. No bueno.

20¢ Beefsteak and Cherry Tomatoes

February 6th

• 2/6- Planted quite a few of each in the Jiffy Peat Pellets
• 2/19- Planted more
• 3/5- Planted the last ones
• 3/25- Repotted the strongest ones in bigger containers. These are also staying in the garage and being hauled out to the sun every day because of not using sterile soil.

Corn Experiment

February 6th

• 2/6- Planted 1 seed in a 6" pot and 1 in a peat pot
• 2/14- Both germinated
• 2/17- 6" pot seed is 2 inches tall
• 2/22- 6" pot seed is 4.25 inches tall
• 2/23- Repotted the 6" into a 12" pot because roots were coming out of the bottom.
• Planted 2 more seeds in 6" pot (those germinated on 3/3)
• 3/5- Planted a green bean in with 12" pot and planted another seed in a little blue bucket along with a green bean seed.
• 3/25- Fungus gnats were definitely living in the soil, so they are not living in the garage
• 3/26- It was windy when I took them outside for sun, and they seem perturbed. Didn't like the wind.

Hot Pepper Experiment

February 6th

• 2/6- Planted one in a peat pot
• 3/18- Still alive but super small
• 3/25- It lives int he garage now and goes out into the sun
• 3/26- noticed a third leaf coming out

Cucumber Experiment

February 6th

• 2/6- Planted 2 seeds in peat pots
• 2/18- 1 germinated
• 3/15-18- warm week and it really took off this week
• 3/25- Repotted into an 8" pot. It is now now staying in the garage and being hauled out into the sun every day because I didn't use sterile soil, and the gnats were beginning to present themselves inside.

Peppers

• 3/3- Planted 18 peppers (should germinated between 3/13 and 3/23)
• 3/16- 5 germinated
• 3/20- 10 germinated

• 3/12- Planted 12 more seeds

• 3/20- Planted 3 more seeds

Gurney Tomatoes

Better Boys and Sweet Baby Girls

• 3/5- Planted seeds
• 3/12- Planted more seeds
• 3/20- Planted the last seeds (16 Better Boys)

Watermelons

20 ¢ Seeds

• 3/12- Planted 13 watermelons (should germinate between 3/19-26)
• 3/19- 2 germinated
• 3/21- The ones in the 4" containers all germinated and 3 in the peat pellets germinated