Gardening Chronicles: Weeding

Here’s a definition for you:

To weed (verb): 

1. To clear of weeds; to free from something hurtful or offensive; to remove the less desirable portions of.
2. To get rid of (something harmful or superfluous).

That is the stage we are at in our garden journey.

As an aside, I just had flashbacks about the book Pilgrim’s Progress.  I am, by no means, John Bunyan writing out of my imprisonment, but I guess it’s because our garden often seems like an allegory to me.

But I digress…

First, let me give props to the plastic mulch again. It seems to cut down on weeding because the sproutlings are under a covering where they are kept warm and safe. However, there are some weeds that seem to like the dark and grow under the plastic mulch right at the base of our sproutlings. These weeds have been harder to see, and since most of the sproutlings are still smaller, they often blend in. A note about harmful weeds: They like to blend in and get close to fruit-bearing plants. They may lay low for a while, but eventually will take over your garden if not plucked out…by the root (such a satisfying feeling).

So, it’s pretty obvious…you have to get rid of the weeds and really keep up with it so they don’t kill your fruit-bearing plants.

What is less obvious (at least it was to me when we started) is that you also have to get rid of superfluities; the excess that may prevent the stronger sproutlings from producing really good vegetation. Everything I’ve read stresses the importance of plant spacing and also thinning out your plants. Every seed packet indicates the amount of space your plant needs, which is different for each type. You may sow the seeds close together in many cases, simply because not all the seeds will take root (germinate), but once they start growing they need space. If you don’t provide the proper amount of space and concurrently thin the excess, then (1) the plants will eventually work against each other with some taking over the others, and (2) their fruit will be smaller and less flavorful. Again, this is the consensus I’ve gained from researching and asking around. 

“Failure to thin your garden properly may result in either a plant that takes over, or one that doesn’t grow to its potential. Keep in mind that thinning should be done even before it’s readily apparent that your garden needs it.” (Thinning Your Garden).

I have to admit getting rid of the unnecessary is a challenge for me…yes, even in gardening. For example, right now we have some tomato transplants we started at home. Well, every seed we planted in those little pots must have sprouted because there are about 8+ sprout-babies in each pot. Now, the good news here is that while they are young we can gently split them up and plant the other sproutlings in additional pots (so I’ve been told). But at the garden, it will be a sad day when we have to pluck out some perfectly good white acre pea babies so that the others have room to grow and flourish. It will be especially difficult if there are several side by side all doing really well.

So, weeding is not just getting rid of the harmful that can kill your plant’s fruit/vegetation but also the unnecessary excess that can limit or keep it from flourishing.

Not hard to connect the dots on why the garden seems like an allegory.

To close…here are some recent pictures of our garden-patch kids. 

Squash (UH-mazing)

Romaine Lettuce

Potatoes (finally sprouted)

Collards

Canteloupe

Baby Watermelon

Tomatoes

Garden

Garden-Parents

Gardening Chronicles: Warmth & Growth

What a gorgeous day! After being cooped up inside all week due to the flu (that mess is no joke), I was ready to check on our little sprout-babies. Although now, many of them have progressed to sproutlings. 

I was worried about our white acre pea babies as I’ve read they do not handle the cold very well. Last night it was supposed to get down to 31 degrees, so I fretted like any good garden-mama would. Chad reassured me, “Babe, they’ll be fine.” 

He was right. There they were, standing straight and tall seemingly un-phased by last nights temperatures. I do think the plastic mulch is helping tremendously to keep the soil warm and the moisture locked in. 

We did, however, decide to reinforce this by putting some hay around our tomatoes and white acre peas. This is also another way to cut down on pesky weeds (random fact: nut grass, we learned today, is the #1 worst weed…coconut grass is #3…not sure about #2). 

Now I feel as though they will be warmer tonight although I think all chances of freezing are probably past since we are in mid-March (what?). 

As I mentioned, the sprout-babies have developed into sproutlings.  Here are some of the developments:

White Acre Peas:

Pole Beans:

Squash (It’s hard to tell from this picture, but they have really taken off):

Collards:

Cucumbers (still sprout-babies):

Carrots (little carrot-top babies):

Onions (so tempted to pull them because they look like weeds to me):

Romaine (still a baby):

The watermelon and cantaloupe are very small still and many of them did not take. We’ll see what happens. The potatoes were just planted a week ago and have not sprouted yet. The tomato and bell pepper transplants are doing well and have grown taller as well as developed more foliage.  

Farmer Tom things using plastic mulch is “working on magic.” Guess that means we have no idea what we’re doing but it seems to be working. “Seems to be” is the operative word. Although, I will admit I pray over our garden.

My mom keeps telling me if all our white acre peas yield, we will need to quickly look for an electric pea sheller. I seem to recall bleeding under my finger nails as a kid after shelling peas all day. I’ve started looking.  

On the home-growing front, our herb-babies (as my friend, Sara, has rightly named them) are doing splendid (basil, oregano, cilantro, and chives). They looked a little down today though. Right now they are basking in the sunshine. Also, some tomato and onion starters we thought had been washed away by the rain, began to poke through the soil. I have to admit, I had left them for dead. But there they were.  

The Chad laughs at how excited I get over this gardening thing. I just hope I don’t get equally as sad if we lose more than we gain. Either way, I have been careful to go in with realistic expectations. The fact that in one week we had sprout-babies already far exceeded my expectations. So, I think we’re good. 

Gardening Chronicles: Sprouting

After only one week, EVERYTHING in our vegetable garden has sprouted. I was like a little kid when we drove up and Chad said, “Look at all those sprouts!” Most importantly, the white acre peas have sprouted. We have 3 rows of these because I wanted to ensure we had plenty of our favorite veggie. 

Let me back up a few days. We went out to the garden plot 2 days after planting to check that everything was getting watered properly and to plant carrots and cucumbers. The soaker hoses and timer were working beautifully. Underneath the plastic mulch, the soil was nice and warm…which things like peas enjoy. So, the plastic mulch may be contributing to the, what seems to be, instant growth. 

Now keeping them alive. 

Here are a few pictures of our sprout-babies:

White Acre Peas:

Pole Beans:

Collards:

Squash:

We also planted red and white potatoes, garlic and a few herbs on Saturday. Everything I’ve read about the garlic said it could take 4-5 months before it is ready. Seemed like an interesting thing to grow and since we have plenty of room, I thought we’d try it. 

The other thing that has been an unexpected benefit is the community of gardeners…both professional and hobby-ists…we have met. We’ve met another pastor of a church here in town that is gardening in a plot next to us, a retired gentleman who is an expert tiller of the land, and then another guy who has been farming for 27 years (that’s Farmer Tom). 

So…stay posted for more gardening chronicles and the growth of our sprout-babies.

Gardening Chronicles: Planting

Because I think I should try as many things as possible before dying or being raptured away, we planted a vegetable garden. It wasn’t spontaneous or unplanned.  We started talking about planting a garden early last year and did our research.  We found a farm called Orchard Pond Organics (www.orchardpondorganics.com) that rents out 30’x50’ garden plots (our back yard does not have enough room and there are too many trees blocking sunlight). There is a small monthly fee and they provide one till a year along with a water spigot to connect your irrigation. So this year we did it…we became farmers. OK, more like amateur gardeners. But, I like the idea of being a farmer.

I thought it would be fun to document our gardening process for future reference and to see if other people have suggestions on how we could do things better. We are learning that there are many different farming methods.

First, these are the items we planted:

Pole Beans, White Acre Peas, Beefsteak Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Red Potatoes, White Potatoes, Bell Peppers, Collards, Yellow Squash, Green Onions, Cucumbers, Carrots, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, Garlic, Rosemary, Oregano, Chives, Basil, and Cilantro.

Sounds like a lot. Probably is. Since this is our first go around, we weren’t sure if we would grow anything. We planted quite a bit of pole beans, potatoes, white acre peas, and tomatoes. And just a little bit of the other items.

Since Orchard Pond is an organic farm, all our seeds had to be organic. We also asked around and were told that heirloom seeds are best. We bought our seeds from High Mowing Seed (highmowingseeds.com) and Johnny’s Seed (www.johnnyseeds.com). High Mowing seeds has a lot of information on each crop as well.

So, Chad’s parents came in from out of town to help us. It was great.

In the picture below you can see our rows after they were first dug.

After we dug our rows, we laid soaker hoses (thank you, Adam!).

Taking our friend, Adam’s advice, we decided to lay plastic mulch over our rows before planting to cut down on weeding. Apparently this generated lots of looks and questions even from the seasoned farmers. But they ultimately said it was a good idea.

We set up our poles and twine for the pole beans.  At first we only had horizontal twine between the poles until a local farmer reminded us that pole beans grow vertical…duh and thank you.

Then the planting began. One thing that confused me, being a novice, was how many seeds to put in each cell. Most seed packets told you the depth, plant spacing, and row spacing, but few mentioned how many seeds to plant in one spot. After talking to Farmer Tom (a farmer for Orchard Pond), I realized it wasn’t that tricky. For instance, with the pole beans, we made a slit in the plastic mulch (not too big or the plastic will blow open rendering it useless). Then I ran my finger in the soil (the length of the slit) at about an inch deep (different for each seed), and dropped the seeds in along the line I made with my finger…following the spacing mentioned on the seed packet. The covered the seeds lightly.  Farmer Tom said it didn’t have to be exact…just close. I guess it was just amazing to me that large plants will come from such small seeds.

At the end of the day we had planted everything listed above except for the potatoes and herbs, which we planted the next week. 

We ended the day by connecting a timer to the irrigation.

Day one was a success and a lot of fun with family. Now for the waiting…the part I do not enjoy!