March 20: compost added to this year’s potato beds. planted 10 lbs kennebec potatoes (let cut pieces sit 24 hours before planting) potatoes covered with a small amount of soil and then covered with a layer of straw
March 21: planted 10 lbs red norland potatoes
March 22: planted carrots, two rows each: cosmic purple, chantenay red core, jaune obtuse du doubs (yellow,) parisienne, and tonda di parigi
March 24: planted one row of bleu of solaise leeks and four short rows of rocky top lettuce mix
March 26: light frost killed about 50 % of my pea plants
March 28: planted one bed of grocery store bought organic gold potatoes (feed store was out of yukon golds)I’m actually pulling these back up because the feed store got another yukon gold shipment in, and while I have read mixed things about planting grocery store potatoes, I’ve never done it before and would rather go with the sure thing!
Boys are each working 20 minutes per day to maintain beds and that is working quite well. Spinach is up between onion rows. I need to plant in the spots where it didn’t come up.
Tested soil pH in one bed–neutral.
I have a lot to do over the next week or so, starting seeds in flats and then trying to remember to keep up with them so they don’t dry out. This is not a strong area for me!
How is your garden growing?
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Lovely site. Lots of great inspiration for the garden! April’s garden job list is getting longer. Need to get out there asap!
Last year my garden was an epic fail, but this year I am going to give it another shot. You keep inspiring me!
Bea’s style is just about the best thing ever. I totally want some of those pants for myself. Nice going.
Ive just linked my blog and will try to update every weekend or close to that ,I have soo much enthusiasm this year!
Your garden is looking good! I need to get some carrots in. The varieties you planted sound scrumptious! How fun your kids are having too – such awesome joy!
What a wonderful vegie garden,you motivated me to get my winter one in.
I just read your post and was about to comment and at the exact same time got an email from you.
As you know we have only the chives growing at the moment, and the other perennials just starting to come back too. I am keeping a look out for volunteer lettuces from what went to seed last year. And soon we will be starting flats of trays too, and I will be good at watering them, and hopefully the cats won’t eat my seedlings…
Did you make Bea’s super beautiful ruffly pants? They are so cute! I am going to be some similar for the girls soon, maybe even start a pair tomorrow…
Well thanks for the note and I hope you feel real well soon and I hope you have fun with your bees!
Renee <3
Sharing my third Garden Journal today! Thanks so much, Ginny, for the venue to share as well as the accountability it provides in journaling our garden progress. 🙂
Your children look to be enjoying their work in your garden! Such precious memories you’re building in them. For our children to grow up with a love of working the soil and reaping the reward of their labor, we must provide the example for them. What a joy it is!
Blessings,
Lisa 🙂
You are really making headway! I love how there are people involved in this at all levels of experience. There is so much that I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like a novice and other times, I think…hey…I lalready knew that! The thing I learned from you this week was to plant the spinach in with the onions. I planted a 4×8 bed last fall and they seem to be doing well, but I have been bemoaning the fact that I couldn’t use the bed until July. Thanks! I’ll be planting spinach in mine on Tuesday.
Love those heels!
love Beatrix in the wheelbarrow ! Didn’t manage to write a report this week, so am linking to last weeks. Nothing much has changed since then.
Do you rotate the beds? Each year or just years? Looking great.
This is off topic a little bit. The discussion of bee keeping reminded me of Lark Rise to Candleford. I am enjoying season one right now on DVD. One of the character’s name is Queenie, she is a bee keeper. I love this series. The country side and gardens are just beautiful and certainly inspiring.
Some day I hope to start a blog if for no other reason then my own garden journaling. I need a tutorial or something to get me going. Ha, perhaps then I would spare my FB friends who are bored of my gardening photos.
p.s. I LOVE Bea’s gardening bloomers!
I’m confused… Should I add my name to Mr. Linky’s List every Saturday to participate in the Garden Journal or is it just a one-time sign-up?
Sorry Heidi! Yes, you add every week. I actually added your post last time, thinking you had just forgotten.
Thanks, Ginny!
Glad to see all is going well. I have been working hard in my garden, I’m starting to lok forward to the point you sit back and relax! That doesn’t really ever happen properly but still I can dream. x x x
Your bees will have so many lovely things to pollinate! Our garden is starting to take off this week — I’m hoping that within a month, the spring crops will mature so that I can reclaim the space in our small garden for summer tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, and beans. Happy gardening!
Just want to check with you on your potatoes and the planting process…so do you just keep adding straw once the potato plant pops up? I’ve heard about planting potatoes with straw, but wasn’t sure about how to go about doing that. Have you encountered any problems planting like this or noticed a difference in the yeild? Thanks for any imput. Happy Gardening.
This is the only way I’ve ever done it, and to be honest, I don’t think I do it quite right. We get a lot of potatoes, but I don’t think we are getting as many as we should. I am going to try to do a better job of adding extra straw once the plants come up this year and see if I end up with more potatoes. Typically I don’t keep adding as the plants grow, and I know you are supposed to.
Thanks so much for responding…I think I will try it this year. My husband and I had to take turn digging up last year and my husband bbruised the arch of his foot;) I’m willing to give it a try. I did read after the intial plants come up your suppose to cover them again two more times. I’ll let you know how it goes for us.
Ginny, If you put your seedling flats in clear plastic bags, water them, blow up the bags and lightly twist tie, it helps to keep them damp if you forget to water them. ( similar to a terrarium). But you must watch to be sure that they don’t become too wet & “damp off.” My father used to use this method, and he was one of the original organic gardeners in the 1960s – feeding a family of 7 with a small garden plot.
This sounds like it may work better for me than the clear plastic lids…thanks for the tip!
i see lots of fun growing in this garden! love seeing kids pitching in, helping out, and still squeezing in some good laughs 🙂
What an awesome garden. Your kids are so into it. Love that. What part of the country are you in? I haven’t even begun here in WI. Are you starting early with the mild spring or is this normal for you? Question about potatoes…I always read to never plant store potatoes because you could start disease equivalent to the great Irish potato famine. Is this not true?
Well, I don’t believe that starting disease equivalent to the Irish Potato famine is true-sounds a bit extreme… but I do think it is a better plan to plant seed potatoes for lots of reasons. I have never planted store bought potatoes before this year, so don’t have any real experience with it. I actually just edited the post because my feed store has yukon golds again, and I am going to go pick some up and replant!
I love Bea’s gardening shoes:)
I’m thankful you’re keeping this going! It’s giving me incentive to keep track of my progress 🙂
I always get a smile on my face when I take a look on your blog!! Your amazing pictures!! So beautiful children!!! I love it all!!! ♥ Herma
Bea never fails to make me smile–looks like they’re all having fun!
hey I had to link up last night..because at least where we live we are putting out garden reports every week, lol…
On another note… I asked in the other post but there were so many comments so I just got lost in the sea…. What type of bees did you order? I see yours are coming this week…ours aren’t in till April 22.
I would love to see the specifics of your hive. We have been studying all winter and we are all geared up for this.
Your gardens look great!…those kids are rocking the gardening look too!
T
Hi! Sorry I missed your question last time. We bought two packages of Italian bees. We basically just decided that we were going to buy whatever our local bee supply was selling-and that’s what he had. We are using Langstroth hives-all mediums and while we used cut comb wax strips on a few frames, we are mainly using foundationless frames. I hope that makes sense, I am not good with the lingo yet! We are debating buying a nuc in May……
oh cool same here.
I know there are so many other lessons I will learn with the bees … so I am really amped to get them here and see what I am really supposed to get out of it all.
Be Blessed.
T