Finally!! We were able to break ground, till the garden spot and plant ten or twelve rows with plants and seeds. The roller coaster winter weather made us cautious not to plant too early, plus the ground needed to warm to approximately 50 degrees for seed germination.
Many of the seeds planted were early crops, such as, carrots, radish, beets, kale and bok choy. Unfortunately, our seed stash didn't include lettuce or spinach. We'll add them in a few days. And since we felt behind this season we planted pole beans (Rattlesnake because they yielded so good last year), two types of cucumbers and several varieties of squash (yellow, French Ronde and scallop).
The Easter cold snap didn't hurt the plants very much (a few wilted leaves), except for the French Ronde squash. I cut all the wilted leaves off and so all the plants should recover, as the root systems are healthy.
We mixed fertilizer and added to each hole and row. The ingredients included lime, bone meal, green sand (a soil conditioner) and blood meal to give everything a boost (an organic shot in the roots) in their early growing stage.
I like growing types of perennials in the garden and yard (seen above is a type of bunch onion) that will survive winter. These perennials give you a start early in the season without any effort, except for the initial planting. Varieties of the onion family are perfect. Included are bunching green onions, leeks and garlic.
Asparagus is also a good veggie to plant for long term, just remember it takes several years for it to mature and yield the delicious spikes like you buy in the grocery store.
Strawberries are another good choice. As you can see above the cold weather didn't hurt ours and they are already bearing berries. Shortcake in two or three weeks!
And there is nothing like digging fresh garlic in the winter for a big pot of spaghetti or any special comfort dish. Garlic is easy to grow any season.
Above is a "Big Bertha" tomato Deberah bought at the Newnan Master Gardener plant sale several weeks ago.
She also bought sweet green bells, as seen above, sweet banana and three jalapeno.
It was good to stop the roller coaster long enough to get our garden started this season. So, "Let the gardening begin 2014!"
** A Special Note: Mr. Basil our garden cat recently used two of his nine lives due to an obstructed urethra. He was at the vets for a week and couldn't go outside for another week to make sure he got his meds twice a day. Tia kept vigil at his crate the whole time only leaving to eat and use the bathroom.
She was a better mama than me!
Until Next Time...........
Happy Gardening 2014 and I hope everyone has a Blessed Easter!
Posted by Wilma Smith
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