Day One... through Seventy-Three

I do hope you will like it here.  Whether you are here to keep up with my progress in my "homestead ventures," or to garden vicariously through me, or perhaps you want to know exactly when to do me a nice favor in hopes for some freshly ripe sun golds, I am glad you made it. 

Now, like my seedlings, I am starting the blog late in the season.  This means I have to play catch up.  Please allow me this quick introduction to my space, and then I will fast forward ahead to Day 73 of my seedlings, which is where I am now.  Don't worry, I'm sure I will interject tidbits from the past 73 days from time to time.

The Design:

The Mother Earth News Garden Planner was an invaluable tool in planning my garden, as was the book Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte.  I based the plan on the things I like to eat and the theories of companion planting.  I won't go into it here, but companion planting guides are fascinating reading on the culture of plants.  This is the layout I created:

This plant list is one of the coolest features of the garden planner:

And for the most part, I pretty much stuck with it.  The position of the beds changed somewhat, and I added a Three Sisters Bed, which consists of Corn, Beans, and Winter Squash all growing together.  You'll understand that one better as it grows, but if you want to read about it, I recommend this link.


The Seedlings

"Seeds are cents, plants are dollars," someone once told me.  I decided to be brave and attempt to start most of my garden from seed.  I found a plan for shelves with lights for seedlings in the Mother Earth News.  By March 12, my wire bookshelves were all set up with fluorescent lights rigged with string to "fly" (they need to raise and lower to stay just over the seedlings) and a plastic tarp to keep the moisture in.  My seed starting mix was purchased and my peat pots and egg cartons were all ready to make things grow.  That Saturday, I planted tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, tarragon, thyme, onions, and my favorite flowers, morning glories and moonflowers.  The thyme and onions are no longer with us, but everything else is coming along.

I did make a few mistakes getting started that caused for super slow germination for everything except the morning glories.  Namely, while I was watering them every day, they were drying out too fast.  Solution: get one of those seed starting trays with the lid.  Once I got them fully enclosed, everything popped right up.  As a result, my tomatoes and peppers went in the garden super late.  Next year, I will definitely start the seeds mid-February.

My seedling shelves:

 Welcome to the world, moon flowers!

The Planting

In my beds, I used garden soil from Mebane Shrubbery all mixed up with some compost and some peat moss.  Dad and I managed to get all that stuff into the bed frames one afternoon.  This would not have happened without him.  We got a good layer of mulch over it (free, thanks to the efforts of Jon Hope and the generosity of the airport), and then it was time to plant the seeds that were to be directly sowed in the garden (some, like lettuce and beans, don't do well as transplants).

I got my printed garden plans and a ruler out and, keeping proper scale, cleared out areas of the mulch so that I could plant the seeds.  All that happened on April 17.  I harvested my first salad on May 20.  Not too shabby. 

Newly planted bed:

And now....

As of this evening, all of my tomato and pepper plants have made it in the bed!  Yes, they are small for May 24.  But hey, give a first-time-seed-starter a break! 

[...secret...I did go out and buy one pepper plant and one Better Boy plant, just in case... and the sun golds were only available as plants.]

I still have a few marigolds and basil left to transplant, but we are rolling, folks:

The Beans Bed (yellow and purple bush beans, nasturtium, marigolds, borage, lovage, tarragon, and carrots):

The Pepper Bed (geraniums, pentunias, marigolds, one purchased purple pepper plant and one bell pepper seedling):

The Greens and Maters Bed (San Marzano tomatoes, Sun Gold tomatoes, marigold, nastutium, arugula, mesclun mix, spinach, carrots, onions, parsley, and freshly-sown row of cilantro):

And the Tomato Bed (3 Brandywine Seedlings, 1 Better Boy, Petunias, carrots, basil, onions):

And folks, that pretty much brings us current.  Stay tuned for future posts on topics such as "The Tiniest Sun Gold Tomato" or "The Trials and Tribulations of Fertilizing Mulched Beds."  But really, I'll try to keep it interesting and short (with the exception of this post), and I'll definitely post plenty of pictures so that you, too, can watch my garden grow!