All posts by : Laurie

Officially, the last average frost date is something like May 10th, but apparently many people around here consider it to be more like the 15th.  At any rate, we’ve been plodding along doing what we can between bad weather days earlier in the month, and getting all the supplies we need. We’ve been planning on planting the tomatoes today, Tier 3, and as many other things as possible.

Today we got most of Tier Four started and planted.  There’s still a section unfinished, but that will come later.  In part of it I was able to plant my lettuce, spinach, endive and some seeds for more of the same.  In the other section there is the broccoli, kale, onions, and radish & carrot seeds.  I will also get some seeds for brussels sprouts for that area.  I may have started too many broccoli and kale all at once, as there isn’t much room for more later on, but the little plants are doing well and are very cute.  I’m glad to get them into the ground.  

It’s nice to see things planted, and there is actually some green out there!  Looking at the sections in Tier 4, I’m thinking of re-doing the map, or plan, regarding the way we will complete the area down toward the fence.  Seeing it on the ground and working in the beds makes me think of changing the layout.  I’m sure it will all morph as we go.

We’ve been taking some of the plants outside daily to “harden” them before putting them in the garden, but it is often VERY windy and they’ve been blown over and damaged in the wind.  Also, some nights are borderline warm enough for the tomatoes.  

Yesterday we finished preparing the asparagas bed, and got the crowns planted. I also put out the parsley that’s been growing indoors, and just a few of the calendula. It’s nice to see a little bit of green out there!

Tim has been working on the steps that will descend alongside our tiers, from the upper level to the lower. It’s a tricky job, with different drops between levels and weird angles, but he’s getting it done. After at least the landings are completed, we’ll work to prepare Tier #4 to plant things like lettuce, endive, spinach, broccoli, kale, some herbs & beneficial flowers. It’s the largest tier section.

We’ve thought about getting a kitten, to keep the mice & rabbits out of the garden, but I’m having second thoughts. It seems silly to get another cat, just because I don’t want to risk losing Cubby or Bayou to a coyote. Perhaps I should just realize a cat is a cat…just an animal…and I know Bayou would love to chase mice. Maybe I’ll just start letting them go outside, at least during the day. I can bring them in at night. However, I’m also thinking that most mouse activity is a night, so letting them out during the day and in at night will be of little help. Yesterday we opened the door and let them out while we were in the yard. Cubby sniffed around and ate grass. Bayou kept going in and out, taking a few steps further each time. We’ll see how it goes, one step at a time.

I suppose for a gardener rain should be good. And it is. It’s nice to see so much green out the window, and driving past fields of green everywhere is a treat. But, the past few days it has been frustrating. We had intended to get beds ready to plant seedlings and start seeds, but it is just too wet. Little plants want to be planted, but with rainy days and cold nights hovering near freezing (just above), they’ve been going outside during the day, inside at night. At least they will be well “hardened off” before they go into the soil.

Tim has used the time to build the trellis for the peas, and yesterday we bought supplies for the steps he will make to descend to the lower level. Yesterday (in the rain) he built the top landing to get started.

I was able to give away several of the extra tomato and pepper plants I won’t be planting, to my neighbor. Hopefully they’ll do well for her!

Todoay there’s only a 20% chance of rain, and we plan to prepare Tier #1 and get the pea seeds planted. I also bought some rutabega seeds, which according to my research, grow well near peas, and I can start them now, too. I’ve started the cucumber seeds indoors, to be planted in that same section with the peas and rutabegas.

I read portions of an ebook about starting seedlings in the soil blocker, and the author suggests that many things traditionally only sown outside can be sown in the blockers, because their roots won’t be disturbed when planting. (See: “Transplants in Soil Blocks”) Maybe I’ll try getting a few things started that way. He also talks about quite a few things that can be “multiplanted” in the soil blocks, several seeds together. Maybe I’ll try a few that way, (corn, broccoli, onions) just to see how they work for comparison with the ones I’ve already started one in each block. That way next year I’ll have a better idea of what will be the best course of action. I have plenty of seeds, I may as well try a few different methods!

We’ve ordered some topsoil, to arrive tomorrow. We plan to add it to the goat manure, peat, & old hay we’ve got to create our beds for planting.

It’s kind of sad to give up some of our plans, but good. We need to cut back. For the most part, we’ll still grow most of what was planned, just fewer of each vegetable, and it will be much easier to manage, on only one side of the yard. I need to carefully look at the size of each bed now and determine how many of each item will fit, so I’ll know which seedlings to repot and which to kill or give away, etc.

I’m putting plants out daily that will be planted into the garden asap, to “harden them off”. They seem to like being outside.

I think “garden” almost all the time now. I lay awake at night then wake up in the morning thinking about what I should do. I’m in trouble now!

We are rethinking our garden, and making some changes to our plans. We are finding that we will need a lot more material to amend our soil, and have decided to purchase some topsoil to add to our sheet mulching process. It is not cheap. We’ve also been thinking that perhaps we are “biting off more than we can chew” our first year by planning to plant so much.

The artichokes are definitely out, cute as the little seedlings are. They take up a huge amount of space and resources for such a small crop, and may not even flower in our climate. It was going to be an experiment just for fun, but now appears too costly.

We will still plant in our terraced beds on the east side of our garden, we will still plant the perennial corner of asparagas (and companions) at the lower west side. At this point, the strawberry and melon sections are iffy, and the “three sisters” (corn, beans & squash) will be limited to a small area. It will still be a lot of effort and harvest!

There will be a large, unplanted section that we may begin to prepare for next year by planting some cover crops, then working them into the soil and sheet mulching in the fall.

The vegetables we eat this year will be expensive, but the amended soil will be used for years to come, with less expensive methods of keeping it up in the future as we recycle yard, kitchen, and horse waste efficiently from now on.

This weekend we had hoped to get the beds ready for the plants that can be planted before the last frost date, kale, broccoli, endive, lettuce, spinach, asparagas, & artichokes. However, it was cold and yucky, and we decided we will need more topsoil to complete the project. It’s a good thing we waited and didn’t plant, because this morning it is snowing. It’s just as well that the tender seedlings aren’t out there! I’m still hardening them off, so another couple of days of that treatment will be good for them before planting outside.

I’m very bummed that I planted tomatoes too soon. They are definitely to big to be indoors, and beginning to hit the lights at the top of the growbench. I need to prune them, but want to do a little more research as to how to do that. One resource indicated that the “suckers” are non-flowering and that I should prune them off. What I’m not sure about is lopping off the top–if I do that will it grow out another non-flowering sucker, or a fruit-bearing stem? I’ll need to look for that info.

I need to start a few more seeds, and had hoped to have the new space made available by the other plants going outside. I also wanted to make more soil blocks, but it’s pretty cold and gloomy outside, so I may put that off another day or two.

We also did some re-thinking about Lucky’s pathway, for a number of reasons. We’ve decided NOT to have her run the perimeter, but to give her part of the yard by the house and downstairs porch, and a path closer to the house to get to the front yard. I wasn’t planning to plant anything there anyway. This will mean less fencing, and non-electric and probably less expensive. Tim blocked off the area under the gate where the bunnies come in, so we will watch to see if they can still get in. If so, we’ll put up smaller chicken wire around the base of our current fence.

Meanwhile, perhaps I’ll proceed with my search for a kitten (or two).

WEATHER: We’ve had some very nice, warm weather, then a few cold days with a lot of rain, then more very nice weather. For the next few days it will be cooler with the possibility of rain off and on, but not freezing. There is still that chance, of course. The average last frost date is around May 10, so hopefully we can do our major planting after that.

PLANTING PLANS: Our plans have been to prepare Tier 4 and three beds on the West side of the yard today, and start planting the things that like it cooler, such as asparagas, parsley, artichokes*, broccoli, kale, lettuce, spinach, calendula. Soon we’ll start peas, too, but need to build the trellis first.

SOIL: Since we didn’t start the sheet mulching in these areas, we will need to use a quick-start method, mentioned in “Lasagna Gardening”, of layering lots of peat along with other organic materials and plant directly in that. We have a lot of soil in piles that was removed from the yard in the leveling process, but are hesitant to mix it in due to weed seeds in it. The soil in the yard has already begun to sprout weeds, so we know they’re there!

Last week we found a listing on Craigslist for free “garden manure” which turned out to be well-aged goat manure, right here in Wellington. We’ve picked up two loads and may return for more. We also have a friend who has offered her alpaca manure. Neither of these need to be composted, and are supposed to be good for the garden. We will use that in addition to peat and the old hay we have. Much of the goat manure is compacted into sheets, so we’ll put those through the shredder–it comes out nice & fine.

HOT TUB/PATIO: We’ve been talking about getting rid of the hot tub, and don’t even care about money. We just want someone else to do the work of hauling it. So, I placed an ad on Fort Collins’ “Freecycle” site on Thursday morning, offering it for free if anyone would pick it up. By the afternoon I’d received about 7 requests for it. I contacted the first person, who came to look at it that evening and plans to pick it up today. It’ll be nice to have it gone since we aren’t using it and it’s just in the way. Now we can fix up the patio there with a table & chairs.

SEEDLINGS: The tomatoes are huge, since I transplanted them into the larger pots. They really like all that soil. I transplanted one of the endive plants into a larger pot, thinking it would get bigger and we just may eat it. Sure enough, it’s a LOT bigger than the ones still in the smaller pots. Too bad I just don’t have the space to transplant more things into bigger pots. I’m sure the peppers would like it. Too bad I can’t get those tomatoes outside yet! I really goofed, starting them so early. Other things are doing well, but sadly, the seeds I planted two weeks ago haven’t sprouted. Several different things: same result. I wonder if I did something wrong with the soil? The only other difference I can think of is that they’ve been under the lights the whole time, whereas last time I kept them warm at first and not so light, by laying them on top of the light fixtures. Maybe that’s the problem? I’m thinking that today I’ll go ahead and put new seeds in the same blocks and see if they sprout.

SOIL BLOCKER: I received my 4″ soil blocker to transplant the 2″ size into them. It took a while to get the process down to make them without falling apart when I eject them. But, a better job of packing the soil in with a stick, wetter soil mix, and very carefully lifting the blocker up straight all helped. I think I’ve got it down. It’s very fun to put the little guys right into the big boys. I’m only transplanting the best plants this time, and not so shy about throwing out the least healthy.

MORE SEEDS: I’ll be planting a few more seeds in small blockers, now that there’s more space under the lights from the things that are going out this weekend. A few things could use a 2-3 week head start under controlled conditions.

LAYOUT: I’ve revised the layout plan a bit for where things will be planted. We’ll be putting the corn/beans/squash (three sisters) on the NW corner, instead of the NE. There’s more room there, and the heighth of the corn won’t produce shade for anything else. Tim began to cut down the tree that was there, but left the trunk up until we decide whether we might use it for something like a bird house or scarecrow support. Don’t know yet, but we’ll probably just take it out.