Busy in the garden

I have been busy in the garden trying to get ready for this year's bounty. The majority of April has been spent weeding, prepping, and building. 

Ryan all smiles as he see the end is near
for completing another raised bed.

We removed two small raised beds that were rotted and falling apart. In their place, we built two 5X12 foot raised beds. We certainly got our exercise digging out the turf to make room for these beds, but in the end, it was worth it. I now have four 5X12 foot raised beds for growing vegetables this year - approximately 10% more space than what I had the last two years.

For each bed, I first rototilled leaf compost (~ 3 cu feet) into the existing soil, then added peat moss (~ 1.5 cu feet), medium grade vermiculite (2 cu feet), Miracle Grow vegetable and flower garden soil (~ 16 cu feet), and greensand (~ 2 lbs). The plants should be happy!

Spring has arrived

I took the day off yesterday (Friday) so I could have three whole days dedicated to gardening. I know, sometimes you just got to have your priorities straight. I planned this day off over a month ago in anticipation of warmer weather. Boy did I get lucky! The temperature was 65oF yesterday, 55oF today, and tomorrow is supposed to be nearly 70oF. The weather outlook for the next ten days is looking equally good. Woohoo. Spring has arrived! 

Yesterday I spent several hours removing weeds and tilling two of the vegetable gardens. Of course this did not happen without incident. I am sadden to report that I killed a baby bunny while tilling one of the raised beds. What a horrible accident! The lesson here: first check for rabbit holes before using any mechanized equipment in the garden. RIP little bunny.

Garlic growing in raised bed (foreground);
"greenhouse" (background)

Thankfully, today was far less traumatic. I transplanted broccoli, napa cabbage, and onion seedlings outside. These are cool weather vegetables that are hardy enough to withstand a light frost should the temperatures dip. As an added precaution, I covered these plants with plastic tunnel. This tunnel works like a greenhouse to block the wind, raise the daytime temperature, and to hold in heat at night to prevent frost from damaging the leaves. In addition, I directly sowed carrot, turnip, radish, scallion, and snap pea seeds into the ground. These too are cool weather vegetables that can be seeded prior to the last frost. Since there are no leaves yet, I am not worried about frost damage. Hopefully the weather cooperates and these seeds can get a good start.