March 8, 2009

Well, I must say I'm very disappointing about not being able to dontate a share of my garden.  I really thought I had enough space to grow enough of what I was already growing to feed 2 families.  This is especially the case because we have never been able to eat all of our produce from our garden last year.  We always had plenty left over.  But bowing to people who's opinions I respect, I will pass on it this year.  Shame that I can't bring a few hundred dollars to the school, and share the bounty with some of our friends.  Thanks all for your words of encouragement and helpful advice.  It appears I did let my enthusiasm get the better of me.  The decision was finalized when my brother agreed that it was too much to handle while we were working on my folks house today.

However, before I went over to help out, I took the opportunity to check out my seedlings and move them around a bit.  The goal was to utilize the angled lights to be roughly 2 inches above the seedlings, so I moved them around from shortest to tallest.  It was pretty fun.



It was actually a nice day out today, so when I got home, I went out to the garden and watered the spinach and weeded.  A few weeds had grown up since I was last out there. Simple to deal with when they were tiny though.  Then I decided it was time to plant some carrots.  I plan on planting a ton of carrots for my kids, and for me.  Last year I hardly got any because I didn't plant enough.  This year I'm planting my standard Mokums and some Purple Haze for color.  The kids think it's cool.

So I dumped a bunch of compost from my bin into the triangular corner of my uncovered bed #4 to make up for some settling.  After working it in a bit with my trowel, I removed about a half inch of dirt from the area.  Then I sprinkled as evenly as possible a bunch of carrot seeds.  Finally I put the dirt back over the seeds and watered it in. 



I used this method rather than the poke a hole and drop a seed in for several reasons.  For one, carrot seeds are so small that they only get burried 1/4 inch or so and I normally poke too deep a hole for them.  Secondly, my son wasn't around to help (it was a PJ day for him).  Thirdly, I don't have a grid here so it would have been difficult to get 16/SF.  This wasn't the best way for sure, but it worked to get some carrots in the ground.  I will plant several more sections like this around the garden, but do it right where I have a grid. 

I wasn't sure when to plant my green onions.  Now, sitting in front of my computer, I looked it up and found I'm late for indoor planting and probably bit early for direct sowing.  That got me thinking, are they perennial enough that I should just leave these alone?



Hehe, yeah, these are HUGE.  They've grown into every nook and cranny in a 4+ foot tall hoop cover.  Mostly I'm curious to know if these are still good.  My wife keeps buying them from the store when we've got a ton out in the garden.

Well, I sure hope you had a productive weekend and that productivity includes something for your garden.  Spring is nearly upon us and now is the time to get ready for it.

Enjoy your garden!

**EDIT**

Thanks to a comment from Shannon, I finally checked the weather forecast for the next few days.  The snow that's still not quite melted should have been an indication of things to come, but the nice weather today was misleading.  Sure enough, lows in the 20s for the next few days.  I'm thinking if I hadn't watered the carrot seeds, they should be fine under some Mel's Mix and fresh compost, but I watered a few hours before dusk, so that's not very good.  Thankfully I have stuff ready to go at a moment's notice.



For occasions just like this, I grabbed the first window I could reach and threw it over the bed.  A little tinkering later, and presto, a make-shift cold frame. 



I know, it won't hold heat in well, but it should keep frost off the bed and provide some heat insulation with the sunshine, assuming we get any over the next fews days.  This is the best I can do on short notice.  This bed isn't set up for hoop covers.  That will be rectified this spring. 

Thanks Shannon!  You may have saved my son's carrots.