Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Garden Diary


It's been a tough year to farm or garden. I know plantings across the country has been record pace but that really doesn't reflect the situation today. Many corn fields are not up or struggling or look funny. Most are behind on growth now. It is 48 degrees in raining here and human comfort level is low so you know the plants aren't doing well.

Still, we got most of the garden in last evening. I hope it makes it but like farmers say, it won't grow in the bag. So we planted and transplanted. We picked up some plants and seeds at our friend's place in Adam's County, Good Seed Farm. Steve and his family are quite a story. They lived in New Jersey and wanted to get off the rat race track and bought a farm near Peebles, Ohio on the road I was raised on, old SR 74 which became SR 32 and is now Tri County Highway since the Appalachian Highway was finished. I still call the App the road to nowhere.

Here is our garden diary below. You have seen the posts on gardening and calculating planting and fertilizing goals with Ag Math.

2010 Garden
Apr 19 4 rows Luscious sweet corn, up May 3, good, spotted in May 10, 2010
One-row sugar snap peas, some replant May 10
One row onion seed
Apr 22 transplanted onion sets to onion row
Apr 23 2 rows lettuce mixed with fertilizer, added some Buttercrunch May 10
Apr 24 row of top crop green beans
Row of Blue Lake green beans
Applied 20 lbs 15-30-6 and 20 lbs 12-12-12 whole garden
Rain, 1 inch or so
April 30, 2010 planted two rows of Benton green beans west to east
Planted 4 more rows Luscious sweet corn with T-22
Little over half the garden is planted, too early for tomatoes and succulents?
Almost 2 inches May 1-2
May 10 row of carrots
Row of rutabagas
Row of parsnips
Transplant broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, peppers
15 tomato plants
Hills of cucumbers, eggplants, pumpkins, melon, squash
3 blank rows for Roger’s BC 805 sweet corn and green beans courtesy of our seed exchange with Brian in Oregon
Row of sunflowers on the east end of the garden
May 11 raining again!

I will get pictures up when it looks a little better! The tiller needs TLC so it is a little weedy with my sporadic hoeing. Since the first rain we have been planting into a stale seedbed with a crust on top which makes it easy to plant without the weeds taking over. I guess we will find out how that turns out too!

How is your garden doing?

Ed Winkle

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