A Slow Spring For Sure

I am not sure about this global warming thing.  Seems like it is missing New England, as the cold, cold winter has become a cool, wet spring.  Now, I am not totally complaining, as working out in the garden has been pretty comfortable given that we have had only one day that was close to 80 degrees, that I can remember.  We did get lucky in that the last frost date was still in April, about a week before the Penn Relays.  Even down in New Jersey, I never put out tomatoes until I came back from Penn.

The biggest thing I am learning to do is to be patient, watch nature tell me when things are going to change and plant, plant and plant, once the weather provides better conditions.  So, I waited until the forsythia bloomed and the lilacs started to show some buds, before putting in my potatoes.  The lilacs did not make it in time for Mother's Day, but then, Mother's Day was a week early (actually, there is an extra week of May this year).  In essence, everything was a bit later than the past few years.  That is, everything but the weeds.

What kept me going was the progress in the two greenhouses.  Last year, I thought I could plant my tomatoes and cukes in the greenhouse even before the last frost.  Oh boy, that was not too bright, as the night time temps drop down to just about the same inside the greenhouse as outside.  During the day, it is much different, if the sun comes out, even for a short period of time.  I have had temps up to almost 100 degrees, needing to open the window and door to cool things down.

This year, I planted kale (my daughter thinks it is a magic potion), all kinds of lettuce and broccoli.  The kale and broccoli came with me from our trip down to South Carolina.  The lettuce was mostly from seed.  I can say without hesitation that these cool weather plants did just super in the greenhouse.  Tabitha had her kale by the bag full and we have been eating lettuce and the best broccoli I have ever grown, for about 3 weeks now.  I have allowed one round of side shoots for the broccoli and then I pulled the plant out so I could plant my eggplants for Tabitha's mother in law, peppers and patio tomatoes, a new undertaking.  They are all doing very nicely, as the overnight temps don't go below 45.

broccoli head inside second greenhouse

Garlic, Kale in back and seedlings on ground

One other thing I am trying to do differently this year is to keep planting, especially directly into the soil outside.  My sister-in-law down in Delaware has been doing that for years and I have not.  I get the seedlings going, fill up the garden spots and then wait for harvest as I run out of room.

This year, I have left some room so I can continue putting in some additional veggies for later harvest.  So instead of running out of produce by the end of August, I am hoping I can still harvest good crops right up until the final frost.

I am also going to try and plant some cool crops inside the greenhouse by the end of July and see if I can keep things going until after Thanksgiving.  Last year I was able to still have lettuce for Thanksgiving and I am thinking that I should be able to grow broccoli, kale, carrots and maybe some peas if I plant at the right times and keep things going.

Rabbit
I have a few issues with rabbits in my garden.  Last year it was chipmunks, this year, rabbits.  One rabbit in particular is super-sized.  And he is not bashful.  I see him going after some of my crops, so I first try and send "Shorty" our mini-dachshund after him, but Shorty can't be bothered.  I then toss some rocks at the rabbit, only to see him hop out of the way and then just sit there.  He is not afraid, nor is he willing to leave without me coming after him and then only when I am within 5 feet of him.  I put up some netting around the raised beds and that seems to have helped a little, although it seems he or something is still getting at the broccoli close to the side of the net.  I have also put some hoops and nets over the strawberries, since the birds did a nice number on them last year.

Onions
I like onions in most of my dishes, especially in hamburgers and on salads.  So I try and grow a lot of onions.  Problem is that weeds like to grow in the same location.  Another problem is that onions like lots of water, I guess and lots of extra fertilizer.  I bought about 120 onion seedlings from a Texas onion distributor last year, including about 60 "Candy Onions", a sweet, large onion that is supposed to grow anywhere.  Well, it didn't do a very good job of growing in Mansfield.

So this year I bought some Candy Onion seeds and today, I planted the seedlings in areas of the raised bed where some earlier stuff did not grow.  I already have onion bulbs from Agway, both Stuttgart yellow and some variety of red onions.  I also bought some seedlings from Home Depot of "Yellow" onions (you would think they could list the variety).  The bulbs are coming up nicely with strong looking shoots.  The Home Depot onions look a lot like Walmart onions.  They are struggling.  At $3.50 for about 90 of them, I am not going to complain, but I don't have much hope for them.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that my own seedlings will take hold and make it through the summer.  I have pretty good control of he area where I planted them so weeds should not be a problem.  The dirt is in very good shape with lots of manure mixed into the original stuff that was from the swimming pool excavation. We will see.

Onions- seedlings in back area, bulbs in the front area

Tomatoes
I love tomatoes.  Jackson, our grandson, calls them "butt burners" as it seems if he eats too many, he gets a rash.  Well, you can guess where.  But tomatoes are the mainstay of the garden.  The biggest problem with tomatoes is that it takes a lot to keep them going up instead of falling all over the ground.  I have tried all sorts of methods, with limited success.  So, this year I went out and bought myself three "cattle" panels, used to enclose cows in their feeding area.  They are relatively inexpensive ($20 for a 4'x16' section) and they don't rust the way the concrete reinforcing mesh does.  The idea is to use single stems and wind them through the mesh up to the top.  I used some metal fence posts to hold the panel up and have it off the ground about 9 inches for more height and so I can weed under the fencing.

This is the single "cattle" panel, with the second one behind it. I have about 12 tomato plants for the 16 foot panel.

This is the second panel.  Those are black raspberry bushes behind the tomatoes.

Potatoes

I have had best results buying my potatoes from Agway.  I buy Pontiac, which is an early red potato and Yukon Gold, which is mid-season and is yellow.  Yukon Gold comes closest to our German potato.  I tried the German Butterball variety out of Maine last year with very poor results.  So, what I did is save some of the Butterballs (most were pretty small) and planted them again this year.  Surprise, they are coming up.  Now, I have no idea if I will get any kind of a crop, but it was neat to see that I can take some of last year's crop and use them for planting this year.  (I did the same with my German garlic, which is growing in the greenhouse).

The row on the right are the Pontiac Reds from Agway, while the one on the left are the Yukon Gold. The two rows further to the left are left overs from last year.  The ones a bit larger are Pontiac Reds, while the smaller ones are the German Butterball variety.  I have left quite a bit of room between rows so I can use the tiller to weed between the rows.

The Kitchen Garden, raised bed near the kitchen, but a bit barren as something has been feasting on the goods.

Corn

Knee high by the fourth of July? I hope so...Acorn Squash on the left foreground and Cukes in the cage on the right

I am trying my hand at corn again this year.  I had about 12 stalks last year and about 3 ears, so it was not so good.  My sister-in-law does a really good job with her corn crop down in Delaware, as she grows it very close together and does continuous plantings throughout the summer.  So I thought I would try that as well.  I have some early corn that I started inside in March making good progress and then some later transplants.  I also planted seeds today for an even later crop.  I am hopeful they will do well this year, as local corn is hard to come by and we are against buying the Monsanto GMO corn.  

Mother's Day Gift for Nancy

Lilacs, my father's favorite flower.  These are the deep purple ones