Tomatoes are in!

Spent yesterday morning planting the next batch of seeds. Six varieties of tomatoes (including my first attempt at saved seeds thanks to my mother in law) with the majority of them being Roma's for sauce. Also got some more lettuce going and cauliflower.

Although we are not big users of herbs, I keep trying them. We have a small clump of chives near the back door, though we didn't use them at all last year. I planted oregano, basil and coriander to create a small herb garden with. I didn't grow any last year, it would be nice to get some decent growth this year to add to our tomato sauce.

For the non-edible portion of our landscape, I started some left over forget me nots, black eyed susans, purple cone flowers, and alyssum. In addition I started some flowers to include in the veggie garden to help attract pollinators (marigolds and nasturtiums, also saved seed).

I was tempted to try the plant peas on St. Patrick's day saying, but I'm glad I didn't as we got an inch of snow today and the rest of this week looks cool and wet. Better to wait and ensure the seed doesn't rot in the ground. If the long range forcast looks good come this weekend, I may plant some just to try.

Peas and Onions and Compost Oh My!

This past weekend I spent a few hours planting peas and onions in the garden. I also spent some more time preparing the soil for the new plantings.

My compost pile from last season is only about half finished. I did not spend the time or effort needed to properly turn the pile through the season. As a result, the bottom of the pile was well seasoned, the top portion, however, was not. So I dug out the portion that was ready and worked it into the beds that I have dug up to date.

The soil in the community garden is pretty well shot, to put it mildly. There is little to no organic material left in the soil after years of abuse. Needless to say, it is very easy to see the difference between the areas where I had added some store bought compost last year and everywhere else. I am aiming to do a better job with my compost pile this year so there will be a greater quantity ready for next year.

While cultivating last year's onion/carrot/broccoli patch a couple weeks ago, I noticed a few volunteer onions had come up. When my onions died off early last year I pulled them in a bit of a huff and apparently missed a few.

Since I am rotating as many of the crops as I can, the volunteers had to move. They, along with the left over bulbs from last year, have been moved to their new home just a few feet away. I just have to hope now that the sun we got over the last couple days didn't cook the new transplants.

I planted the peas just like the package said, 2 rows 6" apart. This worked quite well for my beans last year (although the beans were closer to 12" apart) and in fact I am digging up a special area to allow a full 25' long two row planting (for the beans, the peas are in the bean patch, but will hopefully be done in time to replant with beans for a late harvest).

Although in general I do not believe in row planting, it works for beans and peas because it makes picking them much easier. I had a small section last year of 3 rows for beans, and it just didn't work. Finding the beans while picking was too hard and I missed quite a few.

So now we wait and see. We're in for a good amount of rain this week, followed by some hot days. Hopefully this will give the onions and peas a good start.