Potato bed (and blooming rhododendrons) on May 21st, 11 days after planting. We planted 12 varieties of potato, most of them fingerlings - about 350 plants total. Well, David loves potatoes. Also, we're planning on selling them at the market.
Snazzy paint job on the garden gate, Mom!
I don't think we've talked about garden fertilizer yet. With the help of a free soil test from the NC Dept of Ag and recommendations from our very knowledgeable extension agent Richard Boylan, we decided to add calcitic lime to increase the pH, and (pictured above, L to R) greensand (a potassium-rich ancient seabed deposit mined in NJ), bonemeal (high in phosporus), and humic acid (a stable form of carbon - this mix we bought from Seven Springs Farm in Floyd, VA). We applied about 700 pounds of lime, 100 lb each of bonemeal and humic acid, and 200 lb of greensand to our 100 x 60 ft garden.
Beans on May 26th, 6 days after planting. We planted 14 varieties - most of these are tasty and beautiful as dried beans, and we're planning to sell these at the farmer's market too.
Potatoes on May 31st! They look nice, but what you can't see is the war we've been waging with the Colorado potato beetle.
These beautiful beetles emerge from underground in mid-spring, mate, and lay lots of orange eggs on the bottoms of potato leaves. Unfortunately, it's us (and our potatoes) or them - so we do thorough searches every couple of days and squish every beetle and egg cluster we can find. Mulching the potatoes should also help, according to ATTRA, while also increasing potato yields.
The other pests we've had some problems with so far are flea beetles and slugs. Here is a pac choi plant showing damage from both. The flea beetles leave tiny holes in the leaves of brassicas and potatoes (just cosmetic damage so far), and the slugs have been eating large holes in the lower leaves of the brassicas, where they touch the mulch. Since the greens are just for us to eat, we're not going to worry about flea beetles. A floating row cover would be a good protection against flea beetles if we wanted beautiful greens. For the slugs, we put out small cat-food tins full of cheap beer - the slugs are attracted to the yeast and happily drown in it.
"Ruby perfection" cabbage.
First harvest - easter egg radishes!
Turnips and peas. I read somewhere that if you plant peas close together in a big patch, they will grow up supporting each other (instead of needing a fence) - we'll see!
Onions like it sunny and weed-free.
