Spring Garden

Our first garden last year was a moderate success mixed with  quite a few failures.  The most important part is - we learned a lot.  A whole lot!  This year we have incorporated many of the lessons we learned.

After spreading fertilizer and the wood ashes we collected over the winter and adding compost and shredded leaves

I tilled the garden plot lightly at a shallow depth with our BCS 739 tiller.  1/4 of the garden is fallow this season and was planted last fall with a mixture of wheat we hand harvested last summer and red clover.  The area we are planting this year is 94' x 50'

The entire back part of our property slopes gently down hill.  Last year's garden was oriented according the property lines and although the rows ran essentially across the slope to prevent erosion, the rows still ran just slightly down hill from one end to the other.  This year we tweeked the orientation and skewed the entire garden so the rows run across the slope as before but the rows are level from end to end.

Last year we planted a few rows on raised ridges but most of the planting was done "on the flat".  With our soil and the pattern of rainfall the raised ridges are definitely the way to go, so this year I purchased a Hiller/Ridger attachment for the BCS tiller to make raised ridges and furrows in the entire garden.  19 rows each 94' long spaced from 24" apart to 42" apart.  Last year we did not start out with a drip irrigation system but quickly realized our adequate rainfall did not arrive steadily and uniformly, rather it arrived in sporadic heavy downpours with considerable dry spells in between.  We put in a drip system, which saved the day, then dismantled and stored everything over the winter.  This year we set up the drip system right at the beginning.  Each row is irrigated with 5/8" drip tape with integrated .25gph emitters spaced either 6" or 12" apart depending on the crop planted in that row.

Broccoli on the left and cabbage on the right on their raised ridges with straw mulch in between rows.

Tomato rows are spaced 3 feet apart.  We used the "Florida String Weave" method for supporting the plants last year which worked very well.  The plants are spaced 2 feet apart in the row with a t-post between between every 3 plants.  Baling twine is strung from post to post down one side of the posts and back up the other side to create a narrow slot for the main plant stems.  I'll post more images of this as the season progresses and the string weaving is added as the plants grow.

So far the spring has cooperated nicely for getting the garden off to a good start.  We have peas, carrots, beets, spinach, lettuce, swiss chard, kale, broccoli, cabbage, and onions all in and growing well.  We just planted the 135 tomato and tomatillo seedlings and poked in the green bean seeds.  Next we will plant the squash seeds.  The eggplant and pepper seedlings have all been potted up from 6-packs to individual 3.5" pots and will be transplanted into the garden in a couple of weeks.

Whew!  After some hard work in the garden Kenny has the right idea.  Take a siesta in the perfect country chaise lounge with the warm sun relaxing away tired muscles.