Fall planting for 2017

In a marathon of digging, compost-spreading and planting, I got the garlic into the ground (a little late, since I aim for the second half of October, but it's only 3 days after that). Still need to get all the garlic rows (and the 10 shallots I also planted today) mulched.

Tally: total of about 150, broken down between 80+ of Russian and 60+ of what was supposed to be German, but I mixed up the heads during the harvest, so I suspect that at least half of them are Russian. I'm not too worried, because we still have a ton of the German stock growing wild, so I could always transplant them into a new bed and let them grow to their potential. I also have a significant number of rounds of the Russian variety that were transplanted in the summer and have sprouted, some of them to about 3" high, although I didn't keep count.

Big change from last year, when only 30 or so were Russian and 75 were German.

One thing I noticed today that I hadn't before -- the papers on the Russian ones are a lot tougher than the German ones, making it harder to break the heads apart for planting. Probably not noticeable when breaking up a single head for cooking, but annoying when breaking up double digits' worth of heads.

Early planting 2015

After the coldest winter (and latest cold) in decades, we're now having a week of 80 degree temperatures in early May. I'm half tempted to go ahead and plant the tomatoes and peppers a good three weeks ahead of schedule, but it's probably not a good idea. I did throw some bean and zucchini seeds into the garden, figuring it would be ideal germination weather.

Also planted the shallot seeds (Conservor, 110 days to harvest, then sun cure for a week before removing tops; 250 seeds!) and Sugar Ann snap peas (less than 60 days to harvest). Weeded the strawberry bed (no idea what variety; they were a gift from my tenants), and noticed the first bloom.

The Crimson Red rhubarb is doing nicely. (Shhhhh, pretend I didn't say that. I'm afraid of jinxing them, given the bad luck I usually have with rhubarb.) And the asparagus is getting out of control. Must harvest it tomorrow when my co-gardeners will be home to eat it for dinner.

I need to make a list of the plants to get at the local nursery, and look up what I spent on stuff from Johnny's. Will be getting manure and straw later this week. What a glamorous life I lead!

Belated spring

It's late for the weather to just start to settle, and I've had the onion plants sitting in a box in a sink for the past week, but it's been either too wet or too cold (29 degrees the three nights before last night), which I wasn't sure the onions would survive.

But I planted 150 of them, plus about 25 tiny ones closely spaced for scallions. Much more manageable number than last year's 400+. I think the plants were smaller last year, so we got more to make up for the size.

The garlic is progressing nicely, including a row that's right were last year's crop grew. I must have missed a lot more of them during harvest than I'd realized. Fortunately, they're right on the edge of the bed, so I can plant the tomatoes and peppers around them.

I have shallot seeds, and I should plant them this week, but I've got too much on my agenda. They'll have to wait until Sunday or Monday.

Oh, and a few asparagus spears have popped up.

Something new, something blue

We're doing shallots this year, as something new. Shallots and red onions and Bright Lights chard -- ordered the bulbs, plants and seeds a couple weeks ago. Got the seeds already. Bulbs and plants in a few months. Total expense, a little under sixty bucks.

No sweet potatoes this year. The bunnies like the vines too much. We ended up with some tubers that looked like they'd already been sliced small enough for stir fry, like water chestnuts. No real substance to them. So, we'll try again sometime in the future when I've got the time and inclination to get serious about bunny exclusion.

Nothing blue. I lied about that.