Sunday, March 18, 2012

Starting the New Year!

More changes to the garden this year!  The pathway is moving to the side of the main garden, so the tomatoes and beans don't have their plots split in two.  I'm also cutting down on what I'm growing to get a better handle on it!

Only two types of tomatoes this year; tomatoes for BLT's and cherry tomatoes for eating!
I couldn't figure out what to do with last year's pepperchini's (they were too hot to eat on their own, and I never got around to trying to preserve them), so they're out this year; instead I'm growing more chilli peppers!  They were a big hit and I didn't have enough to last/go-around, so I'm growing more plants this year.  I should also get more out of them since I know they're not going to turn red on the plant!

The marigolds were nice last year; this year I'm trying to start over 200 of them from seed.  I've got a few different varieties, but so far one has totally failed to sprout and I've replaced it with a different breed.  I also figured out that the other plant I wanted is really a mum; I'll see how that pans out later in the spring.

No gourds again this year, just pumpkins; and they're going to be confined to the pumpkin patch!  They did too much damage to the rest of the garden last year, and I had too many mutant pumpkins that weren't good for carving, so I'm reigning them in this year!

I've had mixed luck with the beans in the past, and no gourds or pumpkins running over them this year should help, but the biggest change I'm making is that I'm sowing them directly into the soil instead of trying to start them indoors first.  It's been warm enough that I've actually already planted 7 of them out there!  I won't be too disappointed if they die from frost or something, but I do have some styrofoam covers that I'm hoping will be good enough to protect them for the rest of spring.  Either way, I haven't invested much in them and they're enough trouble starting as it is I won't lose much if they fail.

Last years mulch turned out great; the grass in it has pretty well decomposed and it's really just a mound of dirt now.  I'm using it to grade the garden a little better and try and flatten out the new grass path.  The grass path I created last year is going away, so I'm tearing it up and moving it to the new spot.  I'm hoping to get a flatter installation, but I've got some ideas on how to fix any issues over the long term.

And I've had the first casualties of the year!  We had a vegetarian mouse in the basement and he bit the heads off of a few of my baby sunflowers!  He's trapped now so he shouldn't do any more harm, but I get the feeling we're going to end up keeping him as a pet!

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