Plant a Vegetable Garden

The price of potatoes has gone crazy….so that inspired us enough this year to plant some in the garden, as well as a bunch of other vegetables.

Working with a small space and a long list of ‘wants’ to try to grow was a real challenge. I love my perennials and shrubs, and couldn’t bear the thought of using those parts of my garden to tear up and use for veggies! So instead, down came the dead tree in my back yard (where its the sunniest) and out came the root. What a job that was!!

We scrounged some driftwood logs from the beach to retain the area to be garden, and rather than make the traditional isle down the middle, we decided to make a big square pit in the centre to crouch in, or sit on the corners while tending the garden. (We’ll see how it works??)

Screening the soil is a real labour of love. With the help of a good sturdy screen, and a strong back to take the unwanted rocks away, the job was accomplished in a couple of days. It was very satisfying to see the end product. Beautiful, rich soil with only pea sized rocks left to help with drainage. We topped off what was there with some compost and manure, raked it out and voila, we were ready to plant!

We mapped out the areas where certain things were to be planted. One area was a little deeper with soil, so we thought that the deep rooting carrots should grow there. We also decided to plant spinach, beets, and a mixture of lettuces such as red leaf, butter,romaine and the yummy, mesclun that you pick young, the leaves of chervil, arugula,  endive, Asian mustards, red kale, and a variety of colourful lettuces. These look beautiful in salads and add a peppery flavour.

The peas we planted up against the shed, where we will attached some netting and trellising . We started the beans in the green house as the weather was still cold. Beans don’t transplant very well, so we will have to be very careful when transferring them to their final position which will be in the back of the garden against the hedge. We’ll have to find some long poles to support them, as they are not the bush variety.

Tomatoes are also in the greenhouse keeping warm until the weather is suitable for planting them out.

I threw in a few onion sets, and scattered some dill seed and cilantro seed (I have heard they attract ladybugs) …..oh and the POTATOES?…..we didn’t have enough room for, so we built a couple of square frames in two corners of the back yard and stuffed the sprouting spuds in them. I have heard you can grow potatoes vertically in rubber tires, just stack them when the leaves have appeared and add more soil, leaving just the tips of the leaves showing. We didn’t have any tires, so we used some wood that we scrounged from the dump, to make the frames. I think they look better than rubber tires?

That’s about all the room we have for vegetables, and there are so many more to choose from. Perhaps, if we are successful farmers, we’ll have enough vegetables to trade with the neighbors? Zucchini, and other squashes would be nice, but take up a lot of room.