the past few days i have had a bit of back pain so i haven't really done much physical labor. the thing that has really troubled my back is slinging toly--hence no reason to sit at the computer and blog. i did rototill the the upper half of the garden and plant winter wheat. the kids helped with the planting they love feeling helpful. i let them strew the seed around wherever they wanted. i mostly filled in the barren spots. some areas are extreemely heavily seeded. we bought a ton extra seed so there was no reason to ration the planting process. although, it will be interesting to see how things sprout.
tabitha and i went through the bakercreek seed catalog and sellected our purchase. our stategy is to only grow what we believe we can grow well--given last summers successes and failures. our current list of intended crops are as follows:
- tomatoes in earnest
-amish paste
-cherokee purple
-omar's lebanese
- tomatoes for the kids
- two or three cherry tomato plants variety to be decided at bakercreek festival
- beets
-detroit dark red (lots of them spring and fall plantings)
- cabbage
-early jersey wakefield (spring only)
- cucumbers
-japanese long (three short rows of successive plantings)
- beans (pole)
-rattlesnake pole (five seperate arches in a long row made from cattle panels)
- beans (soya - edamame)
- greens
-arugula
-spinich (bloomsdale longstanding)
-swiss chard vulcan red (lots and lots of this stuff)
-basil genovese & the remaining thai seed from last year
-cilantro oaxaca
-shisho purple zi su
-dill
-italian parsley
- sunflowers
-wild
-autumn beauty
- pumpkin
-winter luxuary pie
- squash
-butternut - waltham
-summer - early prolific straightneck
- onions
-yellow of parma
-tropeana lunga
- okra
-burmese
- hot pepper
-variety to be decided at bakercreek festival
- rhubarb
i am currently working on map and planting calendar. considerations that we are focusing on are:
- garden space and timeline useage.
- fall / winter hoop house placement.
- beets
- chard
- parsley
- rosemary
- arugula
-seed saving
-insects and diseases
-squash bugs (many measures to be attemped including hand picking)
-aphids (ladybugs and lacewings purchase)
-horned worms (gunieas in the spring)
-early blight (mulching early around plants to prevent splash-up)
-blister beetles (hand squish with gloves-on)
-cucumber beetles (hand pick & yellow sticky traps upsidedown)
-mulching and compost
we are getting excited about the garden, seed catalogs are arriving left and right. bakercreek is going to get most of our garden seed money this year. we will plant only heirloom varieties this and every year. genetically modified and hybred varities are on our taboo list. on high note, we are going to get a light picking of aspargus this year--now that is exciting.
our orchard will grow again this year except for the plum and pluot trees that died from some unknown peril. i'll post my garden map as soon as blogger beta gets it's head out of it's arse.
9 comments:
I got bakercreek's catalog last week as well and was flipping through it. We will be on 5 acres by the end of June, certainly too late for many things but the catalog got me all excited. I'm interested in your map!
I didn't give details yet because Joe hasn't told me it's kosher. I'll definitely tell when I can but not yet.
Lots for you and your family to do..
Wishing you a Happy New Year..
don't forget to get two more guineas... they helped keep the bugs down, too, didn't they? The garden plan sounds wonderful.
Hope your back gets better soon.
sweet potatoes are fall plantings? when do they get harvested?
don't forget parasitic wasps for the hornworms - we have them naturally around here, and once their numbers build up, the hornworms are history!
yeah we plan to get guineas. i know i only listed them under horned worms but yes they help with all bugs.
thanks stella,
changes are in the works. maybe a raised bed outside the garden for the sweet potatoes?
Have you eaten Mayan beans before? All the good parts of black and pinto beans blended.
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