Planting Vegetables

This past weekend I finished turning the soil in the raised beds and getting them ready for planting. I wanted to do this a few weeks ago but got busy.

Soil Building & the Results of the InterBay Method
The layering of mulch and compost worked fairly well. We got started a bit late on this last Fall, and I think a couple more weeks of aging under the burlap would have been good. We also probably layered in too many leaves, in general. And a lot of our leaves were taken from the backyard, where we have more than I’d like of a neighbor’s sickly pine tree needles around. So I ended up cleaning up handfuls of extra leaves that were dry from between the burlap or getting rid of clumps of things that didn’t decompose as much as I had hoped. And as I turned the soil, I also kept stopping to pull out as many of those darn needles as possible (I have heard that they can make the soil too acidic). I also turned in lime into each of the beds to “sweeten” the soil.

In the first bed on the left, I also mixed in a bag of Harvest Supreme soil amendment, which is an organic mix of chicken manure, bat guano, kelp meal, peat, and all the good stuff you need. I had ignored this bed last year so it needed a little extra attention.

The Plan
For the last couple of years I have tried mapping out a plan before I plant. It seems that I like to plan it out, to help me think about rotation ahead of time, think about how many plants I can fit as I look at my long seed list and consider that I can’t turn down those lovely starts at the nursery. So I draw it out as a draft. Then I head out and start putting seeds in. Things seem to evolve once I’m actually doing it, and things may move as I discover those irresistible starts. And of course, everything needs to take into consideration the tomato plants. I need to pack those in as much as possible when the time’s right!

Here’s the draft plan this year (sorry, I'm still learning how to use the camera). Some of it’s crazy and some of my seeds still have no place to go. But then I know from the past that I can’t count on everything doing well anyway.


And the Planting
By Sunday night, I had finally sown these seeds, watered them in, and covered each bed with black netting to discourage the wildlife from digging and pilfering my seeds before they have a chance. That’s a whole other topic.

I'm happy with my plant ID tags this year. I thought to add the date they were sown, for once. On the backs, I added some notes on thinning and harvesting as I can never remember later. Maybe I’ll remember to look at those when the time comes.

Here’s what’s in the beds now:

Onion, evergreen white bunching
Parsely, Italian flat leaf
Lettuce, bib limestone
Rocket
Mache, winter lettuce
Swiss chard, bright lights
Spinach, smooth leaf
Lettuce, looseleaf blend
Radish, icicle
Radish, French breakfast
Peas, Alaska early bush

Coming Up Next
Here’s what’s happening in the makeshift greenhouse (taken this morning):

True leaves!