gingergarten: Garden 2013

Spring has been a little tricky to navigate through, weather-wise, but I finally have most of (the first round) of my planting finished.

Last year's garden will be difficult to compete with, because it was a nearly mediterranean summer, our first year using the plot of soil, and we had tons of tomatoes, eggplant, and summer squash to show for

it! In fact, I just cooked the last batch of frozen, oven roasted, tomatoes- roasted with onions and garlic in olive oil with herbs and some grilled bread- last weekend. So, I'd say last years' tomato yield is really the upper limit of how many we need.

This year, I've read a little more about organic gardening techniques and plant selection, and I'm ready to change it up a little. I focussed on plantings that are edible at different times in the summer, and more salad greens- more like a culinary garden than a small farm plot. I was thinking along the lines of maximizing space/value, by not planting things I can buy for cheap at the farmer's market, which I go to every Saturday. I've also experimented with different planting options- I picked up a couple 20 gallon felt bags, and constructed three self watering 5 gallon bucket set ups.

radish and carrot seeds; kale, red bibb lettuce, arugula

If everything grows according to plan, I should have (mostly in order of harvest):

Microgreens (within the next 5 days or so), radishes, chives, purple scallions, everbearing strawberries, mesculin, spinach, chard, kale, carrots, dill, flat and curley parsley, mini-canteloupe, yellow-skin watermelon, another heirloom melon, basil, Japanese eggplant, tomatoes (1 each of Moscovitch, Yellow Pear, Sungold, Hillbilly, Amish Paste, some orange French one, and 2 Tiny Tims), tomatillos, globe eggplant, mini red bell peppers, cherry bomb and small cayenne peppers, leeks, onions, cabbages.

Self watering buckets, as seen in Urban Homesteading

So far, the potential weak spots in my garden seem to be:

The felt pots seem pretty waterlogged from the nearly constant rains, and the yellow cherry tomato plant in it has leaves turning brownish.

felt pot- red bibb, yellow cherry tomato, melon seeds

The cabbages and some of the parsley don't get a ton of light where they're planted, but zucchini did well there last year, so I'm hoping it'll be fine. They should all get direct morning light, but much past 1pm or so, they're mostly shade. And, the tomatoes/tomatillos will be filtering the light quite a bit as they get taller. I did chose the cabbage and parsley for that location because they seem tolerant to partial shade.

I need to: monitor the planters and pots moisture, and water consistently; stay on track with successive plantings on the spinach and greens as long as possible; see what else can be grown in the small bits of unused space; train the melon vines along the fence to maximize sun exposure; and amend soil based on different plants' needs, taking into account I'm over planting.