Vegetable Gardening

[GLC1968]

Oooh yeah, I meant to post this...

Red Russian Kale from my two favorite non-local seed sources:

http://rareseeds.com/seeds/Kale/Russ...or-Ragged-Jack

http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=625(OG)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Lisa, that is going to be one wonderful garden! Congratulations!
EDIT: Wait, do you have TWO new gardens? Looks like another one over to the right.

No- that area on the right was a decades-old old heavy 5" thick poured concrete parking area next to the house, it was cracked, heaving, and uneven and thus very hard to snowplow or shovel. Very ugly as well. My DH is so clever that he figured out why not, while we have the backhoe here and the fill freshly removed from the new garden spot,- well he had the excavator backhoe that cement out and haul it away and then use our own fill there and just seed it over with new grass. We have parking enough elsewhere. It was a brilliant and efficient move!

(but I think you should have dug that by hand )

I thought you were going to do it? Don't you remember offering??

Mmmmmmm, backhoe.
Plow attachment for the lawn tractor. Lots of shaking out sod by hand.
First year I pulled out the six-inch rocks.
Second year I pulled out the four-inch rocks.
Third year I pulled out some of the two-inch rocks.
Fourth year I grew beautiful carrots. (And I'm still pulling out two-inch rocks. )

At 55, I decided I didn't want to spend the next few years hauling rocks and killing myself. I can kill myself weeding it instead for the next 30 years, and at least eat well while I'm doing it.

Thanks for the kale seed links, guys- I'll def look into it.

Ok now I hear thunder in the distance again...dire weather warnings of thunderstorms and hail again tonight. It was a miracle the sunny window we had today when they dug and worked.

[Tuckervill]

I thought you'd have to dig out about 12 inches to get rid of the grass? Are you going to have raised sides?

Karen

[GLC1968]

I thought you were going to do it? Don't you remember offering??

I could certainly use the workout! I'm actually committed to double-digging another section of our garden this weekend. Upper body workouts to go with my biking for the lower body!

We are lucky that we have super rich soil already on our property, but that super rich soil means super strong and persistant weeds. Because we get so much rain for 3/4's of the year, it also gets VERY compacted...like cement if we don't loosen/aerate it in the spring. I've been slowly double-digging different sections of our row garden with the hopes that eventually, it'll all get done and with attendence, won't need 'doing' ever again!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

GLC- yes you are lucky to have rich soil there! But.....double digging....{{{shudder}}}
I'm very glad to not do that.

Here are the pictures from our new topsoil (all 26 cubic yards of it) that has been brought in and put in the garden area:
http://strumelia.blogspot.com/2009/0...oil-is-in.html

I'm so excited!!

Next we start laying out the bermed beds and paths, while leaving the perimeter naked for the fence people to do their work in a couple of weeks.

[bmccasland]

That's an ambitious garden! Grow some zinnias too - my grandmother did, just for color. In my mind, a vegetable gardens still needs flowers if my practical grandmothers did it (they fed their families from the garden).

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

That's an ambitious garden! Grow some zinnias too - my grandmother did, just for color. In my mind, a vegetable gardens still needs flowers if my practical grandmothers did it (they fed their families from the garden).

I have plans to sprinkle in some nasturtiums, borage, and calendula... then we could eat them in salads!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Laid out and shaped the beds and the paths today!:
http://strumelia.blogspot.com/2009/0...and-paths.html
Gosh it all looks so neat- but of course the weeds will get wind of the new virgin real estate soon.

Can't do much around the perimeter because the fence people will be making a big mess there....but I can start planting seeds all around in the middle now...I'm so very excited!
It'll be my first time ever planting things like turnips, beets, spinach, carrots, kohlrabi, etc. I used to always be a flower and herb gardener with just a sideline of tomatoes and maybe one or two other veggies. This is a big step for me, and hopefully a big healthy step in our lifestyle too.