January 2021

January is preparation month for seed starting in February. Onions will be planted first. I like to start planting the onions around Valentine's day. I've learned to attach the planting to holidays. It start way back with potatoes planted on Good Friday. March 1st will be Bell Peppers and Eggplant. Then Tomatoes March 15th and April first and maybe April 15th. 

Here is the tray ready for onions. The next step is to fill the pods with seed starting soil. It usually takes about five days to sprout onion seeds. And then we are on the way to harvest onions at the end of July. These are my babies until they go into the ground. They are pampered with care as they are fragile and tender little plants. More pictures to come. I learned a couple years ago to snip off the stems as they grow which will make the plants stronger and tough later when planted outside. Last year I had some sizeable onions but hopefully this year they will be bigger and better. I've learned that they are thirsty and hungry plants. I need to water them more and feed them way more. 

November 2020

November has been an interesting month for sure. The weather has been great for year end garden clean up and preparation for spring planting. I have been able to get a surprising amount of work completed that I didn't think I was going to get done. Several times I've said goodbye to Terra Nova Gardens thinking that I wouldn't be back until March but each time I was given a weather reprieve and was able to get more work done. Life is good in the garden. Two days ago a temperature of 73 which tied the record high allowed me to work in the garden in a T-shirt and soak up some sunshine..

This is Terra Nova Gardens bed 3. It was idle this year but will become the tomato bed next year. It's had the trench compost method of preparing for spring planting. Grass clippings from the summer lawnmowing has been buried under the dirt to decompose over the winter and through out next summer which will feed the tomatoes lone term.

Another surprise that I didn't think was going to happen this year was the completing of the path between bed 1 and bed 3 at Terra Nova Gardens. I put down weed suppressant covered the path with about 5 inches of wood chips. The rock bed 3 liner had to have another two layers of rocks added. I still have the remains of three rock piles to use for future garden projects.

Meanwhile back at the ranch (Urban Ranch), the basement garden is producing salads. Lettuce, Sorrel, and maybe Radishes will be in the winter salads. It's actually been in production all summer as well as half of last winter. Soon it will be time to start the spring seedlings. I'll be growing mostly the same things as last year. This year I'll be adding potatoes back in the list.

Christmas decorating doesn't really have anything to do with gardening but it's nice to look at. I just leave the lights on all the time so I can enjoy them any time I pass by. It's been a couple years since I've put up the tree and string up some lights. It's not much but I like it and it brightens up the room especially at night. 

This is the next round of lettuce. I will be ready for harvest in about another 20 days. It takes about 25 days for lettuce to mature enough to harvest. Another several harvest can be taken before it needs to be replaced. These little seedlings are almost ready to be transplanted into individual cups where they will remain for the rest of their life.

This is Sorrel. I have harvested one round of Sorrel. It has a distinct sour taste with the texture of spinach. It a different kind of green salad leaf but it fits well with salad greens. I read about it and had to try it to see just how true the sour taste is. Surprisingly it's quite sour but not over powering sour. 

This is radishes. I planted them in a tray instead of in individual planting tubes to see if this is a better way to plant and grow them. The last batch was spindly and didn't amount to any thing. These too are a bit spindly but I'm hoping they will snap out of it and produce radishes. My first attempt at growing radishes was amazing but I haven't been able to duplicate it since.

Here's Terra Nova Gardens bed 3 all tucked in for the winter. After the trench composting was completed, a hefty layer of leaf mulch was spread over the top of the bed. To keep the leaves from blowing all over the neighborhood, cardboard was laid out across the bed and rocks were placed on top of the cardboard to hold it down. Next spring the cardboard will be removed and the top dressing of leaves will be well on the way to become compost for the growing season. More grass clipping mulch will be added and this bed will have tomatoes planted in it.

This bed will be the sweet corn bed next year. It's bed 7 and will be covered with carpet and tarps until it's time to plant next spring. It will be divided up into three sections and planted about two weeks apart. In 2022 if my plans get completed, I will plant two beds of sweet corn. One for me and one to share.

This bucket is full of rocks mined out of the ground while digging bed 7. It seems that end of the garden has lots of rocks about 6 to 8 inches under the ground. When digging post holes, I found that when I punch through the four inch rock layer it 's soft clay underneath. 

This hot mess as my Arkansas video blogger would say is where the next two beds will be. The bones of the beds are still under this mess but with a little work they can be brought back to life. Ok, with a lot of work they can be brought back to life. This section will be the first caged section. I have a plan to cage two beds at a time. It will be a two or three year plan. Each cage will most likely cost as least $300. It's why I can't do more that one a year. I try to live meager so I can improve the garden.