Hello everyone,
Well, it is still only May and we are in the midst of the first heat wave of the summer season. And in the middle of a drought. We had an hour or so of rain a week ago but basically no rain for weeks. The ground here is bone dry. We are out in the garden watering every single night. Frank is wondering just how much water there is in our well. At least it is deep... 220 feet. Hopefully there will not be a problem. I do not know how people with shallow dug wells are managing in this weather.
We ordered wood to continue building raised beds and it has arrived. Frank began to cut it up yesterday. The heat is supposed to break completely tonight so construction will begin tomorrow, along with planting out most of the remaining veg plants.
The leeks we planted are doing wonderfully. All the veg in the bed with the peas are also doing really well. We will be eating spinach, arugula and radish this week. This year I started some spinach and beets from seed in the house and then transplanted them out. I also direct sowed spinach. The plants that were transplanted are not doing anywhere near as well as the direct sown plants. Lesson learned. I will not bother with the time and trouble to start spinach and beets to transplant. I will just direct sow in the future.
The parsnips have finally germinated so I can weed out that bed now that I can see them. The carrots are doing well. There are a few misses in the row so I will sow a few additional seeds in the spaces. Need to clear and re-sow beet seeds as few of the transplants survived despite our extra watering.
Once again this year something is eating my brassicas. Actually, not eating but just biting off and leaving the leaves lying on the ground. I made some hoops from some galvanized wire we had and covered the two brassica beds with some row cover that I purchased this year from Early's Garden Center (mail order). It is wonderful and thick. I have covered the beds and we checked last night and did not see any further damage. Fingers crossed. I will go out today and purchase a few plants to fill the gaps.
I have found a new source to buy my garden loam. I stopped in at this landscape company while out running errands last week and the woman who owns it is just a treasure. I checked out all their products, all the mulches, soils, etc. Their garden loam looks wonderful, just like Devils Food Cake. Rich and crumbly with a great earthy smell to it. She said they are very particular with their soils and the are sifted over and over to try to eliminate as much weed seed as possible. She gave me a bag of soil to take home. I immediately filled a seed tray, watered it and set it in the full sun. I have been watering it every day since. NOTHING has come up other than a wind blown dandelion. The soil I had been buying was utterly filled with perennial weeds... the very same ones I am fighting against and the reason we are putting in these raised beds in the first place. Needless to say, I will be getting my garden loam from her from now on.
Not too much else to say today. Still waiting until tomorrow for all this heat to break completely and then will be back in the garden working away.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to have some pictures of the rest of the garden planted out and the new raised beds. Cheers.
~ Melanie~
Well, it is still only May and we are in the midst of the first heat wave of the summer season. And in the middle of a drought. We had an hour or so of rain a week ago but basically no rain for weeks. The ground here is bone dry. We are out in the garden watering every single night. Frank is wondering just how much water there is in our well. At least it is deep... 220 feet. Hopefully there will not be a problem. I do not know how people with shallow dug wells are managing in this weather.
We ordered wood to continue building raised beds and it has arrived. Frank began to cut it up yesterday. The heat is supposed to break completely tonight so construction will begin tomorrow, along with planting out most of the remaining veg plants.
The leeks we planted are doing wonderfully. All the veg in the bed with the peas are also doing really well. We will be eating spinach, arugula and radish this week. This year I started some spinach and beets from seed in the house and then transplanted them out. I also direct sowed spinach. The plants that were transplanted are not doing anywhere near as well as the direct sown plants. Lesson learned. I will not bother with the time and trouble to start spinach and beets to transplant. I will just direct sow in the future.
The parsnips have finally germinated so I can weed out that bed now that I can see them. The carrots are doing well. There are a few misses in the row so I will sow a few additional seeds in the spaces. Need to clear and re-sow beet seeds as few of the transplants survived despite our extra watering.
Once again this year something is eating my brassicas. Actually, not eating but just biting off and leaving the leaves lying on the ground. I made some hoops from some galvanized wire we had and covered the two brassica beds with some row cover that I purchased this year from Early's Garden Center (mail order). It is wonderful and thick. I have covered the beds and we checked last night and did not see any further damage. Fingers crossed. I will go out today and purchase a few plants to fill the gaps.
I have found a new source to buy my garden loam. I stopped in at this landscape company while out running errands last week and the woman who owns it is just a treasure. I checked out all their products, all the mulches, soils, etc. Their garden loam looks wonderful, just like Devils Food Cake. Rich and crumbly with a great earthy smell to it. She said they are very particular with their soils and the are sifted over and over to try to eliminate as much weed seed as possible. She gave me a bag of soil to take home. I immediately filled a seed tray, watered it and set it in the full sun. I have been watering it every day since. NOTHING has come up other than a wind blown dandelion. The soil I had been buying was utterly filled with perennial weeds... the very same ones I am fighting against and the reason we are putting in these raised beds in the first place. Needless to say, I will be getting my garden loam from her from now on.
Not too much else to say today. Still waiting until tomorrow for all this heat to break completely and then will be back in the garden working away.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to have some pictures of the rest of the garden planted out and the new raised beds. Cheers.
~ Melanie~
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