Spring Planting 2016

It's finally Spring, which means it's time to plant my early garden. This year, I kind of know what to expect, so I am planting a little earlier than last year, and I'm planting more. I know last year I didn't know what I was doing, so I only did one packet of mesclun mix, but we loved it so much I did two this time. I have half a packet of spinach and half a package of butter lettuce, as well as some micro greens.

I planted around nine rows, with a couple of them only half planted because I ran out of seeds. That's OK though, I would rather not have too much.

I also only planted the north bed, leaving the south bed empty until next month when I plant carrots, garlic and a few other things. I'm switching it up this year because last Fall I realized the types of things I wanted to can and decided to try to grow those things. For example, I pickled a bunch of cucumbers, which needed garlic and dill. So, I am planning to plant garlic and dill, as well as a few cucumber plants.

I need to get some garlic and onion bulbs because I decided not to start my own seeds. I think I would have needed to start them already and I am starting some seeds this year, but I don't have much confidence in them as this is just a trial run.

The seeds I started I got at a seed exchange in Lawrence a couple weeks ago. It was great. I took some of my coriander from last year's cilantro crop and left them on the "Herbs" table. I brought my own small ziploc baggies and went around to all the different tables and got the seeds I thought I'd use. It was a pretty cool event because I got most of the seeds I need for my garden this year. If I was going to start my own tomato seeds I could have gotten those, too, but I didn't have the confidence. I will probably get those at the Topeka Farmers Market

like I did last year.

Ryan went to one of our neighbors for compost. He lives a few blocks away, and we met him at the farmers market last spring. We bought a couple gallons of compost from him last year and he told us where he lives and invited us to come by there whenever we should need compost. So, we do, and it's pretty cheap. We pay like $5 for a five-gallon bucket of charcoal-infused compost that is so rich and soft, it's so worth it. I started my seeds in it, and I mounded it up in my garden beds in rows and planted my seeds in it, too.

Whenever I use his compost, everything always grows so fast and strong, so I have confidence in that. I just hope my seeds get enough direct sunlight and warmth so they have enough energy to grow. I've been setting the container out on my porch the past couple days and that seems to help them sprout.

Lots of Rain Makes Big, Leafy Spinach

I didn't think we would be harvesting our spinach quite yet, but, it was definitely time. We could have let it go for a few more days, but we can already tell there have been a few bugs in our garden and we decided the longer we left the spinach there, the more they could eat instead of us. I don't know much about growing spinach, but I do know that it tastes amazing! It's better than the stuff I usually buy at the supermarket, too.

I read in a couple places that you can cut your spinach, feed it, water it and it will grow back. Here's one article I used, http://goo.gl/8OXJo2. Only, they say, it won't be as sweet the second time. That's OK. I intend to try it out and see what happens. This is an experiment so, what the hay? I'll try it. So we cut the entire plant off, but I think we may have cut them a little close to the ground. When I went back and re-read some of the articles I was using, I noticed it said 2-3 inches above the soil... oops. This article, http://goo.gl/8cKYot, says to only cut the outer leaves so it will grow back. We cut them pretty close and we cut the entire thing. I guess we shall just wait and see what happens. I put a bunch of compost over the spots where we cut, (which was pretty much all of it), and watered it well. I also used this article from Mother Earth News, http://goo.gl/RNLySC.

Cut spinach plants

We cut some cilantro, too, but not all of it. Ryan and I decided we want to let it continue to grow until it bolts, so we can harvest the coriander seeds. I've never done any of that, either, but I'll make sure to document it all for next time, and for you, of course! Please feel free to comment below with any tips or helpful advice about harvesting coriander seeds. I'll take all the help I can get.

One of the holes form the squirrel

With the harvested cilantro, I made some pico de gallo and wow, it was fresh. Really, the entire garden smells like the cilantro, so I was already overpowered by it. But, when I cut into it, it was even stronger, I loved it! Our garden is organic and we haven't used any pesticides of any kind and I feel like that is contributing to the way our produce feels. I feels clean, like I wouldn't even need to rinse it if it weren't for the dirt all over the leaves. This is the truth. Part of what I'm enjoying the most about this gardening experience is knowing what has been put on my food and knowing I'm not eating chemicals. The cilantro almost felt squeaky to me, it's weird, but I like it. It's so shiny, too. I think I'm addicted to this experience.

I found some proof that we have had a squirrel rootin' around in our beds. It must have happened this afternoon because it wasn't like that this morning before work. The only way I know is the soil is nice and soft and I could see his little footprints all over the place where he dug. He didn't dig up any of my stuff, but he dug little holes all over the place, including in my basil pot, so I hope he didn't disturb any of the seeds I just planted. He also kind up dug up the entire row that wasn't planted, so I'm not sure what exactly he was doing, unless he was hiding something there. I sure hope not.

After reading and doing some Googling, I found some information about squirrels. I bet he got some of my basil seeds, because he dug right where I had just planted some. I know he didn't get all of them, but still, it's kind of annoying. I couldn't really find any wonderful solutions, except maybe using my dog to keep them away. There are some sprays that could be made with peppermint or capsaicin, but you have to make sure you don't get it on what you intend to eat. I may ask around and see what has worked for people in my area before I decide what to do.

Our First Pests and How We Handled Them

Uh-oh. I went out to weed the garden again (there's a lot of that) and found a slimy little friend -- a slug. You can see him in the photo below.

Our first "visitor"

Luckily, I work at a restaurant that has hard boiled eggs on the menu, and the cook likes me enough that he saved me a batch of the shells for compost. Instead of throwing them in my composter, I rinsed them, dried them, then stored them in an open container in my garage. If they are rinsed out, they won't attract bugs or flies, and nothing will mess with them. But you must make sure and rinse them out well -- I rub my fingers around the insides to break the membrane and get rid of all the slime -- you can't just rinse them with water, rub your fingers around inside to get all the egg residue off, or you'll have flies and bugs all over them quick. They also smell, so store them outside in a garage or on your porch. I've read a few places where people recommend boiling the egg shells in water then drying them to sterilize them. I've never done all that, and I haven't had any problems, yet.

I was reading an article by Mother Earth News, http://goo.gl/XcT3PO Learn How to Grow Spinach,  and it recommends pulling back the mulch, which I haven't done, yet. I'm hoping the egg shells work.

Another article I was reading reinforced my usage of egg shells for slugs and snails:   http://goo.gl/welsJp.

The Farmers Market

Add crumbled egg shells to deter pests

Saturday, Ryan and I went to the farmers market to buy tomato and pepper plants for the garden. We wanted to go early in case the heirloom varieties are scarce in the coming weeks. We didn't want to miss out. We won't plant them until mid-May. I have a couple friends who swear by the Mother's Day rule, which is to obviously, plant on or around Mother's Day.

We bought four different tomato plants, three types of bell peppers (orange, red and green), two small jalapeño plants, a thyme plant and a Siam basil plant.

Our farmers market finds

The tomato varieties include Sweeties, a bright grape tomato with high sugar content and firm texture. Early Girl is a popular early slicing tomato, your typical medium-sized red tomato. The one I'm most excited about is the Black From Tula, a large purple/black heirloom tomato. The description says it's been said to have the best flavor of all the dark tomatoes, with "a rich, old-fashioned flavor that's sweet and spicy," according to the Tomato Chooser app. It also says the fruit can be as big as 8 to 14 ounces, so I'm especially excited for this one. And finally, the orange Chef's Choice tomato, which is a hybrid variety that reminds me of the Early Girl, only orange.

So, now we have a table full of plants, and I may need to transplant a couple of them, but this way I knew I could have a variety of locally grown produce to put in my garden.

Also, the lady who I bought the Black From Tula and Sweeties from was able to tell me where she bought her seeds and everything. That's what's great about buying local. I also found out that she and her husband live a couple blocks away from me and mine, and they sell beautifully rich compost by the gallon. If we bring our own container they will sell it to us for $1/gallon. We have our compost started, but it won't be good until next year, probably, so we definitely took him up on that offer. The plan is to add it to the soil when we plant the tomatoes and peppers here in a couple weeks. The woman said even just adding some to the tops of already planted plants will perk them up immediately, so I may add some to my spinach and see what happens.

I recommend heading to your local farmers market like we did, and talking to people. You can really learn a lot about your area that way, and maybe you will be lucky like us and find some cheap nutrients for your garden. I knew buying tomatoes from these guys would be a good idea since they obviously had plenty of rich compost to use.