I checked the garden today and uncovered the row cover. All the seeds I planted last week germinated. I got lucky with the rain and then several nice, warm days. So, they probably won't grow a whole lot, just sit there, but in the spring I will have earlier veggies. I put another layer of row cover on everything after I picked some lettuce, carrots, cilantro, some side shoots of broccoli and one more cauliflower. Oh, I got another pint of snow peas as well.
I was going to finish mulching the garlic but Matt wanted me to wait until it comes up, and not to use straw since last year a lot of the seeds sprouted. If I don't mulch until the garlic is up, I can sprinkle some organic Preen to prevent so much sprouting. Or use the leaves David chopped from the driveway trees.
Pretty much the garden is put to bed, at least for another month. I won't need to uncover the row since other than cilantro and a few carrots, there really isn't anything to harvest. I did notice some more onion seedlings I should transplant but I will only do it if we get some nice warm weather again. I sure am going to have a lot of onions next summer!
I picked up my onion sets on Saturday after the class on fermentation. On Sunday I finished weeding the row, put on compost and planted away. One full fifty foot row and one partial row of red onions. Miranda helped but quickly wore out. I didn't have gloves for her so she was working with oversized, clumsy gloves. She did some raking too.
David chopped straw with the mower and I got them mulched right away and then put down some organic Preen. I still need to put straw on the garlic rows. The weather is in the 60s, so it's perfect!
I had a class on fermentation this morning that was really great. Learned a lot of stuff and it looks simple enough, we're going to give it a try. I got a jar of saurkraut to take home and everyone got to pack a pint with veggies and pour brine over and now we'll let it ferment for five weeks! I also talked to a woman there who cans her own meat and she gave me the encouragement to try it. I remember my Grandma Reicha's canned meat. It was so tender and juicy.
I also picked up my onion sets today. Sandy told me to open them up because they were damp inside and would rot if not planting today, so that's what I did.
When I got to the farm, Matt had tilled the garlic rows and raked. Whew! The hard part is done. Then he separated the cloves and I planted. Got it done lickety split! But then I was out of energy. I weeded the end of the onion row a bit when Miranda came out and wanted to help. She was sad the garlic was already planted but said she would help plant onions. I was drained so I told her I would go inside and play with her and we could plant the onions tomorrow. I was so happy she was okay with that. Plus, she got a gingerbread house kit from Pop Pop and she wanted to put it together with me. So that's what we did. It wasn't easy. The frosting is nasty to work with. If I were to do it again, I would make my own icing. But we finished it and it looks cute. Ennie made Chicken rice and we stayed for dinner.
I woke up to 33 reading in the closed greenhouse. Yikes, I have plants in there to keep them out of the frost! Probably not doing them much good.
I have a class on fermentation at Country Garden's Farm this morning. Miranda siad she wanted to help in the gardehn so she is going to help me plant garlic today. Rather than struggle with the washed out rows, I will use the row I had prepared for onions for the garlic.
The onion sets are in and I will pick them up at the class. So I will try and get another row prepared for them. I am going to try laying straw mulch first and planting the onions through the mulch in hopes it will be faster than putting the straw around the tiny onions.
Yesterday David picked some lettuce so I had to lift the row cover. As I was putting it back down, Shockley made a bee line for me and ripped right through the fabric. I was not happy. I just put a second layer over the tear for now but I may use the heavier fabric to make a second cover which will give it better winter protection.
I also planted some more seeds. Radishes this time.
Finally, a sunny day! Everything is totally waterlogged everywhere though. The garden has a huge gulley from the over 12" of rain. The sweet peas I planted on the north side of the garden shed are completely covered with wash out.
A close up with a glove so you can see the extent of the washout.
We got the rows marked for the garlic and I weeded the end of the pea row for the onions I started from seed. I should be able to transplant most of them tomorrow. We will be helping with the solar panel pipe structure early but I should still have time to plant. I did sneak some beet, turnip and chard seeds in the row where I pulled out other plants. Not sure if they will germinate but if they do, they will probably just be early spring veggies which is fine.
I could only find three of the rosemary seedlings. They got washed out again. I totally moved them to a different area this time.
I finally got a few beets and I pulled some parsnips to thin them. They are still pretty small but we will enjoy them roasted with the beets, onions, sweet potatoes and I may have a couple of turnips too. Oh, David dug a few small potatoes that were volunteers from missed potatoes that we harvested.
