Starting the 2011 Garden - Week 1

In January, I planned out what I wanted to grow.  I had some seed left over from 2010.  I looked through catalogs to fill in the gaps in what I wanted to grow but didn't have.  My father ordered the seeds.  He wants to take care of that, and I have no problems letting him do so.  I view him as the Godfather of the garden.

When the seed arrived in mid-February, I kicked it into gear.  In last fall, we'd raked leaves over the empty garden, and I wanted to chip them, store them, and add them to the compost.  Dad has a chipper, so on Feb. 19, I borrowed that and chipped leaves plus some dry vegetable stalks that were not composted. 

That same weekend, We started a bunch of seed in the greenhouse.  Some varieties of tomatoes, lettuce, and lettuce.  My wife started some zinnias.  Since then, I have also started my hot peppers...5 different varieties.  I like hot stuff, and hot peppers grow very well in my soil, and they make great gifts - dried on thread as a garland, pickled in vinegar, and cooked as a hot sauce and canned.  I also started some cilantro, and a dozen radishes.  Yes, radishes...it's silly, but I love the flavor of the radish roots and the leaves in salads, and I want to see how they do in the greenhouse.  Angel loves radish leaves in her salad, too.

We also started soil prep.  Last year there was no border on the garden of any sort.  Grass and weeds encrouched heavily, and it was a real chore beating them back.  So, we got our boys out there with shovels and the three of us dug a trench around the outside edge of the garden.  I started setting in old landscape timbers that my parent's had laying around, and some old scrap boards I had behind the Batcave.  Yes, I call my workshop the Batcave.  Shut your mouth.

My wife and I also scored some manure from one of my mother's friends who keeps horses.  We drove my Pathfinder out in the pasture, and shovelled 7 boxes full of horse crap.  About half of it I spread directly on the garden.  The garden is 20 feet by 50 feet, so it's not really a lot of manure on 1000 square feet, but we think it will add good stuff to the soil when we till it in.  I put the rest of the manure in the compost.  I also spread 20 pounds of pelleted limestone in the garden.  I consider Feb. 19 & 20 to be the official start of the 2011 garden...Week 1.

Feb. 20, 2011.  Starting the border, soil prep.

Feb. 20, seeds in the greenhouse