Its been a long winter and its a bit difficult to get started, but we made a start to our 2014 garden. We have been raking the lawn for weeks to clean the leaves and dead grass and are almost ready to put down our granulated lime and then seed. We have already started our tomatoes and eggplants indoors in peat pellets. We have seed potatoes in trays in preparation for planting.
May 6, 2014 – Planted Burpee Garden Beans today in last years potato patch.
5-30-2014
-Planted Burpee Garden Beans, Peas and Sunflowers, sown directly into the garden. Nowarigolds and Basil planted in clay pots. Now wait 🙂 .
-Lawn has been limed with granules and then seeded. New Troy-Bilt mulching mower has been used three times so far!
6-19-2014
Squash, cucumber and pumpkins seeds sprouted and watermelon just poked its leaves above the soil. Rainy day, planted more tomato plants, using cut black garbage bags to keep weeds out, not pretty but seems to be effective! The garden beans i planted first are getting flower buds, and the second row of garden beans i added are growing as well as the sunflowers but the peas took bit longer and have just sprouted from the soil. working to control the weeds!
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- Tomato plants with split garbage bags to control weeds
6-21-2014
Planted some Martha Washington variety asparagus today! I will need a lot of patience for asparagus, the instructions said to wait till the third season to harvest! i carved a trench next to my strawberry patch for the asparagus and using that area for perennials. Also planted two eggplants that i bought at WalMart in the main garden next to some eggplant i grew from seed.
Critter alert! somebody has been eating the leaves from the garden beans, the perpetrator is either Mr. bunny or Mr. ground hog as they have been sighted in the evenings. I put some chicken wire fencing around the ban garden, hope that helps!
6-25-2014
Waiting for rain but was disappointed, so I am watering the main garden tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, eggplants and cucumbers with a sprinkly head water hose. I guess i will water the backyard garden sunflowers.garden beans, peas, strawberries, asparagus and flowers too! Thiunderstorms at 10 pm! about 1/4 inch on my rain gauge, this will soak the ground for my sunflowers, beans and peas which i didn’t water. I hit the strawberries and asparagus with some Miracle Grow. I used Miracle-Gro for 30years on houseplants and my vegetable garden as well as roses. The soil where I live in Northern New Jersey is rocky with a lot of clay, so i Think it needs some help!
6-27-2014
put some wind whirligigs to scare off the bunnies and groundhogs, chipmunks, etc.. I remember my grandfather would put some pie plates on a string attached to a stick in the garden o scare away the critters so i think this will serve the same purpose.
7-7-2014
-Green beans picked and on the table! I planted the seeds on May 6 and harvested on July 7, just a bit over two months with regular watering and good rains plus lots of sun! I still have quite a bit of seeds in the pack, I planted a second crop on May 30th and those plants are doing well and should have beans soon.I am thinking of planting a third crop! I picked the beans just as the seeds were forming, I steamed the beans, served with butter, they were tasty and sweet with a crunch. Usually I would wait to maximize size but then there were seeds inside and they seemed tough, less flavorful.
