Starting the Garden: 2013

Puppy is pooped after her vacation at the pet resort.

When we got home from vacation  last Sunday, the weather was beautiful in Northeast Ohio.  It was too beautiful to sleep the day away (which is what we wanted to do considering we didn’t get home until almost 1AM Sunday morning and had been traveling since 10:30AM Saturday morning).  After picking up the pup from the kennel Sunday morning, we went home and got to work on the garden.

Planning in Progress

The first thing I had to do was sort through the dozens of packets of seeds that I’ve purchased and had left over from previous years.  I didn’t realize how many seeds we had!  I then sorted the seeds based on what weekthey need to be planted so that over the next 4 weeks, I can slowly but surely get everything into the ground.  The only seeds I was able to plant were the cold weather seeds like lettuce, strawberry and asparagus seeds.

 

The Attachment on the Weed Eater

 Next, hubby decided to come out and help till the garden.  For the past few years, we’ve wanted to get a tiller for the garden; however, we weren’t willing to pay hundreds of dollars for something we would use a couple times a year.  Upon looking into renting a tiller, we found it would cost anywhere between $45-65/day.  Todd learned that his weed eater has an attachment to till soil and it would cost $99.99 new!  I will willing to shell out the money until Todd found a brand new one on Craigslist for $50!  Cha-ching!  NOW we’re in business!  We’ve already used it 3 times and it works like a charm!

This year, we have decided to plant some vegetables in the flowerbed in front of our home to utilize the space we’ve got.

 

 

Future Herb Barrels

These planters used to house perennial flowers, but this year, they will be growing herbs.  (I know they are really ugly right now, but I haven’t had a chance to get around and take out last year’s dead stalks.)

 

The "Salad Bar"

Even though this looks like an empty patch of soil, there are 5 varieties of lettuce planted in this area.  This is going to (hopefully) be our “salad bar” in the next month or so.  I have never had much luck with lettuce or spinach, so we will see if planting it at the proper time in the season and watering it once in a while will help.

Last year, the chickens scratched up our 2-year old asparagus plants, so this year they are going in front of the house.  I decided to plant them by seed in the front corner of the house fully aware that it will take 2-3 years to start producing asparagus.  I love perennials; however, patience is not my forte.

We have had a lot of rain over this past week.  After a couple of days of rain, I noticed our pear trees are getting their leaves!  I wonder if these 3-year old pear trees will produce any fruit for us this year or not.

Pear Tree

 

Our transplanted red raspberry plants are doing great.  We already have many new chutes coming out of the ground and some green buds forming on the canes.  Oh how I love my red raspberry plants.  No matter how much I neglect them each and every year, they always return the next spring.

Red Raspberries Have Leaves Already

This past weekend, I planted over two hundred peapod seeds.  We really enjoy eating peapods and I am hoping we have enough to freeze or can so that we can enjoy them throughout the year.  If a couple hundred plants doesn’t do it, we may have to turn our entire front yard into a peapod field!

So far this season, that is all I am able to plant based on our last frost date of the year (which will probably be mid-May here in Northeast Ohio). 

How is your garden coming along so far this season?