Friday, March 30, 2012

2012 Garden - potatoes, salad greens, and radishes

This beautiful weather has been very inspiring, although I am fearful for my budding trees. A timely frost could mean no chokecherries or currants here on the farm this summer. But after weeks without frost, the trees and shrubs have awakened. They don't know the almanac says frost is possible until May 15th.



... Spring has sprung, like it or not, 6 weeks early. Since everything is budding out, I am planting things that can handle the cold that isn't here but is completely possible. Plus, these guys were growing in my basement pantry crate anyway...



So this week we pulled the potatoes out of the basement and got them planted. Last year I planted them about 8 inches deep and then tried to properly "hill" them to get the best yield. This year I had Ben dig me a very nice deep trench, so I can fill it as they grow, and not need to drag in more dirt from elsewhere to achieve the desired depth.



We moved the potato bed to the part of the garden that will be more heavily watered, since last year we learned that the amount of water is directly proportionate to the potato yield. I think they will be quite happy next to the cukes and lettuces. Here's a pic of our 2011 potatoes:



The kids helped me assemble our cold frames and plant them with lettuces, spinach, and radishes. It's actually pretty early for radishes, but I'm hoping that with the glass for protection that they will take advantage of this warm weather and pop out an early crop... especially since they are so quick to grow. :)


Here's our 2011 radishes. 28 days to gratification... you can't beat that!

Related posts:
and over at Raising Homemakers:


2 comments:

  1. Looks great Laura! I have peas in, and some lettuce sprouting in containers! I might have to try radishes this year, anything they shouldn't be planted near? -mia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mia, My companion chart says that you can plant radishes with lots of other things including lettuce and cucumbers, but you definitely don't want to plant radishes with carrots. I hope that helps! I am excited to hear about your garden. :)

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