This is a guest post by Farmgirl of http://farmgirlschool.wordpress.com
April 24, 2013
“Take me home, country roads, to the place…I belooongg!” I was belting out my favorite John Denver song while tilling the sweet ground. The few inches of leaves (from my neighbor’s trash last fall) and compost that I put on before the fierce winter weather did the ground good. It is dark and fragrant. The moisture stayed in many parts of it. This winter has been the most moisture we have received here in a long time and though I am still cold, it is nice to have so much damp ground. The pastures last year were so dry that hay spiked in price, animals went hungry, people panicked. The air is sweet with cool snow.
I raked back the majority of the unbroken-down mulch to the side. I gently tufted the soil with a rake, not turning it (too many nice microorganisms workin’ for a livin’ down there!), just loosening the top. Mulch will return once the plants are up.
I made an impromptu chart on the back of an index card during a sudden moment of gardening inspiration in January. I listed all the seeds to be planted in April (my early crops), all the ones that are planted third week of May (summer crops), and the ones that will be replanted the end of July and August (late crops….same as the early crops). I have eleven raised beds so I had to do some fancy finagling to get everything to fit. So I gave each bed a number and set to work jotting down what should be planted where. What will have time to finish growing in order to put in summer crops? Where will I have space to put in late crops and still have room for perennials and medicinal herbs?
Collard greens, Swiss chard, two kinds of kale, radishes, and two kinds of lettuce went into bed 1 which will be followed by tomatoes and peppers with greens continuously grown around them.
In a brief moment of gardening brilliance I set up three tomato cages and planted peas around the perimeter in a circle in lieu of a trellis. The peas and a few red potatoes and the most beautiful scarlet carrots went into bed 3 to be followed by soybeans and lettuce.
The limited potatoes are because I purchased them from the nursery then left them on the car floor. Where they were then trampled by various teenager’s feet and piles of this and that. The remaining potatoes are shriveling and look rather pathetic but I still intend to plant them today in the potato barrels.
Cabbage and cauliflower went into bed 4 nestled in with surprise onion shoots from last year. I don’t have the heart to pull them out. I will be lucky if the delicious cabbage and cauliflower ever transpire, we have a short growing season and bugs that love them so I don’t have anything planned for bed 4. Just a nice, long luxurious growing season for the cruciferous delicacies I love.
The garlic is coming up with frost burned tips, slow but sure. I do hope they make it! One cannot survive in the kitchen without a smidge of garlic.
Onions went in to bed 8. The possibly dead…possibly sleeping…Cabernet Sauvignon grape vine slumbers (hopefully) next to them. And in a fit of ridiculous hopefulness, Brussels sprout seeds joined the onions in bed.
The snow gently covered them for the last two days since I planted. Today should shine bright and cool. We will be nearing temperatures in the 70′s by the weekend and early germinated shoots ought to be sticking their heads up to peek at their new world. I will have my face to the sun, singing, “Take me home, country roads…..”
The original article may be found here: http://farmgirlschool.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/early-crops-for-spring/