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Monday, June 3, 2013

Gardening: 2013 - Round One

I finally got around to working on our raised bed gardens yesterday. 

Planting time!!!
 I turned over all the soil with a shovel and pulled out the big clumps of roots that were left from last years plants.  Eddie helped me by eating dirt.

Once Libby woke up from her nap, we went back out and started putting the seeds into the ground.  She was so excited to help plant the garden that I couldn't do it until she woke up and could help.  Hopefully, she will be just as excited to start seeing some of the plants grow!

Planted and ready to grow!
We started with the bed with the chives and oregano (that survived the winter?!?).  We planted about 10 parsnips, 5 rows of carrots, and about three square feet of a wonderful salad mix. 

Decorative Corn
Next was one of the large raised boxes.  We did one row of decorative corn (doesn't generally grow well in our garden, but I would like for decorations come fall so I am trying again), eight rows of wax beans (seed saved from two years ago, so I don't know how well it will do, but I am hopeful), a short row of snow peas under the small trellis, two sunflowers (one on each side of the trellis) and finally, a bunch of beets.  I love beets and would really like to can up my own this fall.  Even if I could get 6 pints out of this garden, I would be so happy!  I haven't done much with pressure canning (and don't own one) so I would like to try it and see if it is something I would be interested in purchasing in the future.  I will borrow my Mom's to process these if it works out.

2008 German Johnson
I still have to buy some dirt to add to one of the small beds as I pulled out all the strawberry plants and the bed is only half full.  I didn't like the strawberries that were there (very tart) and so I figured we would try planting some summer squash and zucchini there instead.  I love these on the grill and it is always nice to have some grated in the freezer for breads in the winter.

2009 Sweet Bell Peppers
I need to get some tomato plants, sweet bell pepper plants and some basil and rosemary for the other large raised bed.  I hope to do that this week.  Since I will buy these all in plant form this year, it doesn't matter if I get them into the ground right away (as long as I can still find some at the local nursery!)
Northern Wisconsin in May
Plus, we had a frost advisory last night and temps are supposed to be in the low 40's for the rest of this week.  This year has been really strange for weather.   Much colder than ususal and snow very late into the spring/summer has made it hard to get things planted.   Even though I ususally don't plant until the middle of May, so I am really not too far behind!

Until the next update, we will be keeping the beds moist and hopefully will see some plants germinate very soon!

1 comment:

  1. Awesome! The raised bed looks really great. Hopefully your seeds will germinate soon! Good luck!

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