In the garden 2019
 

Just got the garlic bed ready for this week's planting. It's cleared (there are some stray oregano and strawberry plants still in there) just need to top with some compost, plant my garlic and mulch with straw.

I've ordered Music (hardneck), Chesonok Red (hardneck), Sicillian Silver (softneck), and Pioneer (softneck) and some grey, red, and yellow shallots. Supposed to arrive before this weekend.

I am debating ordering a few more varieties (can one have too much garlic?)

I also ordered for this fall: goldseal, ginseng, saffron bulbs, Egyptian walking onions, and yellow potato onions. These will be planted around the edges of the garden (or in the case of the saffron, in an old milk crate to be brought inside every winter).

Hi all!

Sorry I dropped off without warning.
Nott much to say about the 2018 garden. I had some health issues (miscarriage), and well, things weren't great for most of the late winter/spring/summer.
Seedlings I had started got forgotten and died (I'm still kicking myself over that!), I didn't have the energy for the weeding and planting, and then work got really busy and I didn't have a day off for nearly three months.
Things are better now.

I'm back in the garden and cleaning things up for 2019.
No huge plans for expanding the garden next year, still try to be gentle with myself.

Welcome back!

So sorry to hear about your loss. Glad you are back in the garden preparing for next year. Yes, be gentle and patient with yourself. Sometimes the way the garden just keeps calling for care can compel one forward. At your own pace, of course.

Thank you both!

I've been busy packing up a package for the 2018 Mostly Mystery Mater Mailing. It's been cold, windy, and rainy all week so far so nothing else to do really.

Someone from work offered me their seed starting setup and supplies. *dancing around with confetti and party hats*

So naturally I decided to rearrange IMMEDIATELY. I added a second hand dresser for seed and other storage. I have two shelves from Aldi that are metal with four shelves each (about five feet high by 1.5 ft deep and four feet long...I think). I have a mix of LED and flouresent lights for growing (I'm slowly replacing everything with LED). So far I only had enough lights for one shelf so I would swap plants in and out twice a day when both shelves were full...so adding these supplies will really upgrade the place!



And I just moved several plants inside because the temps will be below 30 tonight.

Above is trimmed back lemon grass I'm repotting for winter and something that the lady at the green house just called lemon scented plant. It's fuzzy and succulent like. It smells like lemon candy/lemon polish.

I'm also moving in some rosemary, geraniums, and lemon Coral sedum.

Everything is getting pruned or pinched back and washed in warm water. I'm going to do a hydrogen peroxide soil drench and spray insecticide soap on everything too. I waited until the last minute to bring everything inside too because I wanted as many bugs as possible to DIE.

Surprise! I was cleaning out my hanging baskets and this little baby was in there! :surprised:

Must be either Tumbling Tom or Jelly Bean. I transplanted it to one of my lettuce boxes and hey maybe I'll get some winter cherry tomatoes from it. :P

Shallots, perennial onions, and saffron are here!
 

My order from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and American Meadows is here!

And that means I'm planting at least the saffron inside. I will plant it in a container to bring outside on sunny days and maybe I'll get blooms this year (it's pretty late though so I'm not expecting any.)

My husband and I love curries, Thai and Indian dishes so I'm super excited to be growing our own saffron!

Im using this as sort of an online garden journal...so this thread may get very detailed!

[U]Planting the first L-shaped bed[/U]

Once the rain stopped I raked the bed over again. It's still damp but since my native soil is basically beach sand it drains really fast.
I topped the bed up with some of this garden soil from Just Natural. It's better than the Miracle Grow cement I tried this spring...but still not as nice as homemade compost. It was on sale for cheap though so I figured I'd try it. I keep adding manure from my neighbors bunnies, bagged manure from the store, leaves, and grass clippings... eventually I'll have good soil in these beds...

I sprinkled in a little Garden Tone and raked it smooth.

I then planted the back part of the L (the long part) with a bunch of older seeds for greens...most were between 3-5 years old and some packets were even water damaged. I don't know what will grow so I just chucked it all in, topped with a bit more garden soil mix and watered. If I'm lucky we'll get a winter salad garden this year!

I was expecting garlic today (not here yet) and the shallots and onions came early. So the front part of this bed got planted with potato onions, grey shallots, red and yellow shallots. They're planted about 6 inches apart each way and just beneath the soil, roughly 1/2 to an inch covering.

I also tucked a few of the Egyptian walking onions into the salad part of the bed.

I still need to run to the hardware store this weekend for PVC, 1x4s, row cover, and straw. Then this bed is finished! :yes:

I also started clearing out and prepping another bed for when the garlic does get here.

It doesn't seem like a lot of work for someone my age...but I have Rhematoid Arthritis plus a bunch of other health issues so I need a nap after all that. :)

You just reminded me to order some saffron bulbs. Thanks ^^

Today I picked up nine 1/2"x10' PVC pipes, six 1"x4"s, corner braces, screws, and some conduit straps from the hardware store. I also bought two packs of fabric row cover.

I came home and put together a double layered hooped cover for my raised beds. (I'm making another one tomorrow and will take pictures.)
I am super excited because it came out better than I thought it would! :yes:

I still need to cover the pipes with duct tape to make the plastic last longer. I also need some sort of brace to keep the center from collapsing :twisted:

The inside row of three hoops has row cover draped over,
the taller row of hoops will have leftover green house plastic added when it gets a little colder. :cute:

Gurney's Pioneer softneck garlic came today!

The cloves are nice and big for a softneck. About ten cloves per bulb. I'm picking up more straw this weekend so I can get them planted!