Last Monday – I was home with my eldest child, as she was still on ‘Spring Break’. Lucky for us, the weather was beautiful, and it happened to be 3-4 weeks prior to the last average frost in my area. Good time to start planting the garden. Yippee!!
First things first… empty that compost pile into the beds. Claudia helped me break up the soil and move it around the yard…. My new garden in the middle of the yard is now full to the brim. Here’s the empty version from a few weeks back.
Next, I did a little re-purposing project. Last year, I purchased some measly little bamboo sticks in an attempt to stake up my tomatoes. Here’s what they looked like early on in the process – from the garden 2009.
Well, they didn’t last too long. Those tomatoes went crazy and busted the supports. This year, I’m not foolin’ around, I’m going to invest in these guys. Anyway, those bamboo stakes have now been woven into a trellis for my peas.
Now on to the seeds.
This year, I’m planting peas, potatoes, beets, broccoli, cucumbers, endive, arugula, lettuce, chard, tomatoes, pumpkins, maybe some zucchini if I can find a spot… On Monday we sowed the seeds…
The peas, potatoes, beets, and broccoli are in the bed on the right, the lettuce, arugula, and endive are in the middle bed, and the tomatoes will have their own bed in the back. I’ll plant them in a few weeks time – along with some pickling cucumbers that will climb up the trellis in the middle bed. I’ve planted this bed
entirely with rainbow chard. I think it’ll look nice – it’s my charden. I’ll probably have to fence it off to keep the two-year-old rabbits out. Maybe I’ll plant marigolds around the perimeter – I hear that the rabbits don’t like them very much. Boy, do we have rabbits.
I’m thinking of planting the pumpkin in or near the compost pile… let it roam around in this bed:
Just thought I’d wrap up with a quick peek at my poor man’s rain gauge… note the pink cup in the photo below. I watered these beds for about 30 minutes and filled that cup with about 0.5 inch of water. Turned the water off for the day – and then it proceeded to rain for 2 days straight.
That cup now overfloweth. I’m good to go for awhile 
What are you planting this season?
Looks beautiful Meredith! FYI… the rabbits in our neighborhood EAT marigolds. you may want to invest in an electric fence.
Looking good! I’m so jealous… I’m not planting veggies this year. We don’t have a good sunny spot for a veg garden. I’ve tried to plant them in containers for the past couple of years with limited success. One of the requirements for the next house is a sunny yard!!
I was afraid of that Sara – these Marlborough Heights rabbits are a unique breed I think…
If it weren’t for the lightening strike that knocked the big pine tree down where the ‘charden’ is, we wouldn’t have veggie gardens either… Lucky for us, nature took it’s course.
Yay for gardening and for supporting my favorite VT garden shop – Gardener’s Supply:) We’re headed there this weekend. We’ve got a big tree that needs to come down in our front yard and we hope to replace it with a veggie garden.
XOXO, Di
I love love love Gardener’s Supply… That’s the one catalog that I don’t mind receiving in the mail. Always some clever ideas/products. Good luck with your tree to veggie garden project. Don’t forget to chip up the tree for mulch!
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