It has begun....

[Ldychef2k]

And I am SO excited!!! Here in Zone 9, we can start planting in February. I am starting more turnips, as well as carrots, spinach, onions and peas.

I put together the rototiller this afternoon. Folded back the plastic enough to do one row for the February plantings. Drove stakes and placed string to give myself a boundary, and then used my tiller for the first time. Quite a learning curve ! After I tilled and smoothed, I took a length of PVC pipe and marked out individual squareish beds for each crop. The bed is about 5' wide and 20 feet long.

From folding back the plastic to putting the tiller back in the garage: 44 minutes. I could get used to this.

 

[lupinfarm]

I am so jealous! I have to wait until April/May to plant anything here!

 

[Ldychef2k]

Don't be jealous !!! This is my first garden, and it's all going to die !!!!

 

[Blackbird]

I see some greenery growing on the sides though!

Think of me when your out there planting. Wish some warm weather this way!

Hey, did you get those rats/gophers/? taken care of?

 

[Ldychef2k]

Accidental, I assure you ! I decided to grow lettuce because it is supposed to be easy and I needed encouragement. Nevermind that I hate lettuce.....

The brussels sprouts are about 1/4" right now, and hopefully they will get bigger! However, the broccoli is so tiny you could eat it as an appetizer on a toothpick.

 

[pioneergirl]

No worries! I thought for sure my first garden would be a total bust, but I ended up with several shelves of beautiful jars full of veggies...it was wonderful! You'll do fine!!!

 

[tamlynn]

looking good!

 

[lupinfarm]

Accidental, I assure you ! I decided to grow lettuce because it is supposed to be easy and I needed encouragement. Nevermind that I hate lettuce.....

The brussels sprouts are about 1/4" right now, and hopefully they will get bigger! However, the broccoli is so tiny you could eat it as an appetizer on a toothpick.

Brussels realllllyyy take off when they get going. We have brussels coming out the ying yang from last season, I think they were the only thing that didn't get choked out by the weeds out here or bolted LOL and we had some with our christmas dinner. yum yum yum.

 

[TanksHill]

Your garden is not going to die. I was out in mine today as well. We relocated a raised bed to the sunny side of the yard. I stopped in at Lowes and picked up a couple cubes of garden amended soil. One thing I have learned if something doesn't take. Just stick something else in that spot. Sooner or later you will get something going.

My girls replanted their bathtub. They have been buggin for months. I told them they have to pull the weeds and add some manure. Then they can add all the seeds they like. Well, its all done. And I have to tell you. The soil looked awesome. I think maybe it stays nice and moist because it's in an iron tub. We'll see how it does this year.

I got my Baker Creek catalog the other day. I don't think there is much I will order. I am trying to use the seeds I have. But, my dh cousin will be working in Bakersville this spring, Temp work filling orders. She gets 50% off her seeds. I think I will find something to buy.

not sure what I am planting just yet. Ground is still a bit on the cold side.

I can't wait though.

gina

 

[Ldychef2k]

Great day to be alive when you can work outside and not get a blistering sunburn !

I haven't bought seeds online yet. Want to see how it goes this year. I have had better luck than I expected with peas. I grew them in gallon coffee cans over the winter, maybe 20 of them, and I am going to have quite a nice crop. My experiments with turnips in rubbermaid tubs were terrific, so I look forward to planting turnips in the ground.

I am not able to go buy much in the way of amendments (see my Austerity Challenge, wherein I am living on $12.50 a week), but I did plan ahead and have a lot of green and brown compost, so hopefully that will do the trick.

I want to do a lasagna garden, but can't afford the peat moss. Steer manure is under a dollar for a coujple of cubic yards, so that will be the limit of my purchased amendments. I guess it's better than nothing!!!

I am so excited to get this started. I have started anaheim, poblano, jalapeno and cascabella peppers on the kitchen table, spinach in peat pots AND in the beds, cilantro, rosemary, sage, basil, tomatillos, leeks, garlic, and sweet peas. I have onion sets in rubbermaid tubs as an experiment, and have overwintered red and Dutch yellow potatoes, with a plan to plant Yukon gold and blue potatoes in a few days. The blackberries and raspberries will go in this week as well.

Sorry...I was free associating...I have been waiting for today for months...the day I could lift up the plastic and get going.