Garden Progress

It has been really tough to resist planting the rest of the garden early and it looks as if it is finally time to get the rest of the plants in the ground.  There is just a sliver of snow left on the peak of Shafer Butte, and the days are getting warmer.  We might hit 90 this weekend.  I probably could have planted a couple of weeks ago and covered them when we had that one night of frost, but I wanted to be safe.  My early season seeds that I planted back in April are really taking off.  The snow peas did not all germinate so I am going to replant some after soaking them.

Yesterday I picked up the tomatoes and peppers.  I still need to buy cucumbers and a zucchini plant, plant my dill and basil seeds and we will be set.  I was able to plant the tomatoes and the green beans yesterday afternoon but it got hot out there fast so I will plant the peppers today.  Here is how the garden is faring so far.

The potato planter

Radishes and carrots, lettuce and scallions

Tomatoes

I have been slowly taking out all of the grass from around the garden beds.  They were a real pain to mow around last year and I thought it would look nice if we landscaped it a little by putting in some edging and mulch so it is more like a designated garden area.  It is a s...l...o...w process but I think it is starting to look great.  You can see in the tomato picture where I have taken the sod out from that area.  I looked all over for a sod cutter and couldn't find one, so I went to Lowe's and found this knife.  Its used for linoleum, but it works perfectly for cutting sod.

So bit by bit, I have been clearing it all out.  It's a decent workout also!  I am thrilled that the potatoes are growing.  Its always a little intimidating when trying to grow anything new.  It will be a while before we add the next level of boards but all three planters have leaves growing and they seem to double in size daily.  I have realized that I love gardening! I had to give the tomatoes more space this year because last year they overtook the beds and were too close together.  It limited how many things I can grow this year and I was pretty upset that I couldn't grow everything I wanted to.  I would love to have a huge garden to plant things.  Even if I just gave some of the veggies away, I just enjoy gardening.  I think it can be therapeutic in a way.

Tomorrow is the Race for the Cure and we decided not to do it.  Instead I am going to take the older girls out for a hike Sunday to somewhere new.  It should be a good time.

Spring Planting

We had some rain roll in over the weekend so I decided to get some planting done.  Things are getting busy around here so I wanted to get this early planting out of the way.  We are not out of danger of frost yet, but there are some things that can tolerate the early spring cold.  I planted some of the same things last year but am trying a few new things also.

Last year I mentioned I wanted to try growing potatoes, but we never got around to getting the planters built.  Since we have the beds for the rest of the garden ready to go, I put Brent to work on the potato beds.

 Cutting the boards

The idea behind the potato towers, is that you can grow a large amount of potatoes in a small space.  Since a potato is a tuber, it will shoot off potatoes where there is dirt and room to grow.  We found these plans and used them as a base for building them.  Potatoes can be grown just about anywhere.  Some people use tires, others garbage cans or buckets.  They can be grown in the ground and in towers like ours.

Three potato towers

We had enough lumber for three towers so I decided to experiment and plant three varieties and see which grew the best in this environment.  Many websites say that you can grow 100 lbs of potatoes in this type of set-up.  I plan on weighing them at harvest and see what yield we actually get.  I planted Little Reds in the first tower, Idaho Russets in the second, and Yukon Golds in the last one.  It will be interesting to see which variety does the best.

Idaho Russett potatoes

After I placed the 12 pieces of potato with eyes that were sprouting into the tower, I covered them with dirt.  Once they are about 6-12 inches tall, I will fill in dirt until there is 3-6 inches of leaves above ground and we will add another board.  This will be repeated until there are 6 layers.  Some people wait and do a harvest at the end of the season, or you can harvest throughout the season as well by removing the bottom board and harvesting some potatoes and then putting the dirt back in.  I have had little luck storing the big bags of potatoes we get in the fall so I think I will do the harvest as you go method.

Along with the potatoes, I planted some sugar pod peas this year.  I only planted one row because I will probably be the only one eating them, but I wanted to try something different.  I planted a different variety of carrots and radishes than I did last year.  The carrots from last year failed to grow very big.  I think they were a different variety than what was supposed to be in the package.  Then, like last year, I planted lettuce and scallions.  I will have to wait until May to plant anything else.  We still will get frost and there is still snow on Schafer Butte so I cant plant anything that will not tolerate the cold.

I'm excited for this year's growing season.  Everything did so well last year and I am hoping it will do good this year as well.

The girls enjoying the dirt from the grass we dug up

Preparing for Spring

It seems weather all over the country is pretty bizarre.  Here in Idaho we are no exception. Spring is trying to show up but if you are a local resident, it is well known that you do not plant outside before the snow is off Bogus Basin, our little ski hill. Then, and only then is it safe from frost.  When I worked in the garden center, many customers would come back to buy new plant starts because they jumped the gun and planted too early in the season only to let Jack Frost claim the lives of the tiny seedlings.  I have to be patient and not allow this to happen to me.

It was supposed to rain all weekend but Saturday turned out to be really pleasant.  We managed to get some yard work done only to be surprised with a dusting of snow this morning.  I have been planning my garden for nearly a year now.  It was a year ago March 11th that we became homeowners and chicken owners.  I had decided long ago that when I owned my own home I would have chickens and a garden.  It's hard to believe we started out with 5 fuzzy chicks and now have 7 mature laying hens.  They have been doing a great job and we get anywhere between 4-7 eggs each day.

With our busy schedules I wanted to get a jump start on the raised beds we are planning.  I want to do it as organically as possible so I don't want to use chemicals on the ground where they will be going.  I am going to have 2 - 5x10 ft raised beds and 2 - 4x4 potato planters along our back fence, next to the chicken coop.  My goal is to have them installed and filled by the end of April so I can get them planted in May.  So this week, Brent and I laid down some black plastic and weighted them down in order to begin killing the grass where the beds will go.

Spring Rhubarb

Last fall we covered the Rhubarb plants with straw to protect them from the cold weather.  I had never grown a perennial plant like that so I wasn't sure if it would grow back this year.  We decided to peek at them and see how they were doing under their protective covering and lo and behold!! We have baby plants growing!! This year we will actually be able to harvest from it so we can have fresh rhubarb crisp!

I am so anxious and excited to have a real garden this year.  I only hope it will be as successful as my chickens are.  Now I have to decide what to plant.....