In December of 2009, I added two wooden framed 4' x 8' raised beds to my garden. Despite scalping the area with a lawnmower on its lowest setting and laying down two layers of thick cardboard, the Bermuda grass persisted and invaded my new beds last year. This spring, I raked the soil back and removed as much as I could, but I have no doubt that I will deal with it again this year. If you are building a new bed and have Bermuda grass, my suggestion is to remove the top 3-4" of soil containing the grass before building your bed. A flat-nosed shovel will do the job, but a motorized sod-cutter can be rented to expedite the job if you are putting in multiple beds.
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| Evergreen bunching onions flowering. |
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| Evergreen bunching onions flowering. |
The flowers are opening up on the evergreen bunching onions. As they are pollinated and form seeds, I will be watching them closely to try to harvest some of my own seeds. I started these from seed last spring and look forward to completing the cycle from seed to seed.
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| Apple tree leafing out. |
Despite my concern over the -18 degree temperatures, the potted apple trees made it safely through the winter. I will pot them up into larger containers soon.
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| Partially planted bed containing onions and herbs. |
This past Sunday, I planted a portion of the "Bermuda grass free" bed with onion sets (yellow and purple), cilantro, lemon thyme, oregano, and bok choy. The onions can handle any mild freeze that we may get, but I will have to cover the herbs and the bok choy. In about two weeks, when all danger of frost has passed, the garden really gets going when I put in the main summer crops. Until then, bed prep continues.
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| Oregano. |
A common herb, oregano is used in Italian and Mexican food. Because it spreads via runners, I only bought one plant and will divide it up as it spreads to eventually have several for plantings in my blocks. Oregano is known for its hardy nature. Once established, it will come back year after year.
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| Lemon Thyme. |
Lemon thyme is a less common herb that I haven't found in stores. It's great on fish and chicken or anything that you want to add a lemony zing to. Thyme of any variety is very tough and stays green through the winter and comes back year after year.
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| Bok Choy. |
I've never grown bok choy and bought this plant on a whim. It appears that spring may not be the easiest time to grow these according to
THIS source.
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| Arugula. |
Arugula is a nice addition to a salad with a spicy flavor. It continuously sends up new leaves as I pick the young tender ones for salads. As the days get warmer, it will bolt (send up flowers) and become bitter. I will erect a shade cloth to cover it in three or four weeks to try to prolong the harvest.
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| Divided cilantro. |
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| Transplanted volunteer cilantro. |
My transplanted volunteer cilantro is doing great. I bought two more cilantro plants and then divided them immediately in half before planting. We use a lot of cilantro in salsa. It will bolt as it gets hotter outside. Once it flowers and forms seeds, they can be harvested and used for cooking. Their seeds are the seasoning called coriander. I will erect shade clothes over them in three to four weeks as well to try to prolong the harvests.
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| Yellow onion sets. |
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| Purple onion sets. |
After these pictures were taken, the sets were covered with an inch of soil. Our local nursery provides as many onion sets as I would care to take free of charge every year. This year I added purple onions to the garden just for the variety. Onions are very easy to grow. For large bulbs, plant the smallest sets four inches apart and 1-2" deep. Water them once and pretty much leave them alone until late July.
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| Rabbit or deer damage to a blueberry bush. |
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| Budding blueberry bush. |
I stopped by the house of the customer that I helped plant four blueberry bushes. Three of their bushes suffered severe damage over the winter from rabbits or deer munching on them. This next fall, we will install wire fencing around each bush to protect them.
We are still getting four to five eggs a day. One hen has gone broody and is sitting on the eggs. She's not pulling feathers from her breast, so I figure she'll come out of it pretty quickly. FYI broody means that a hen begins sitting on the eggs with the intent to hatch them. Usually she pulls the feathers from her breast so that the skin can better transmit her heat into the eggs. She also doesn't get up to eat or drink very much and can lose weight. In the spring and summer our hens go broody here and there and we just leave them be other than harvesting the eggs out from under them daily.
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| About an inch and half of rain. |
-The evening after planting the our bed, we got about an inch and a half of much needed rain!
-It's going to cool down with a chance of rain Friday and Saturday. I've seen predictions that it might get close to a frost Saturday morning, so keep and eye on that. By Sunday it should warm back up into daytime high in the 70s.
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