Pre-vacation

Shadier bed.

Sunnier bed, with new compost pile on the left.

We're leaving to go camping in the Adirondacks for a few days so I took a couple of pictures of the back yesterday. It's not terribly different from last week but it does show some of the tomato supports I added recently. This weekend is supposed to be super hot, so we'll see how everything fares with no-one around.

Tomato supports

Yesterday I finally started on supports for the tomatoes. This was one of the golden cherries flopped over on Wednesday after some rain.

Golden cherry tomato on lower right.

It had even started curving upwards, though it couldn't have been flopped over for more than a day.

It's on top of some rue, in front, and sage, behind/under the tomato.

The row of cherry tomatoes got two stakes with some twine woven across while the lone cherry tomato (next to the ground cherries) got a rusty old cage. I’m still undecided about the full size tomatoes: I don’t want too many many stakes along the sides, making it even more awkward to reach into the beds, but the cages I have are small and banged up enough that they’re not all that stable. I suspect that if I wait another week the decision will be made for me since the tomatoes will be too big to safely get the cages over them anyway.

The other project was laying newspaper and then branches and leaves over the space between the beds, in the hopes of less mud along that path. There’s no finished photos as this was done between (and during) rainstorms and the camera was safely tucked inside long before I was done.

Back garden update

Both back beds are nearly all planted!

Shadier bed.

The shadier bed has spinach, kale, and lettuce up at the top. Then the cabbage, broccoli, and brussels sprouts, last seen up close here. At the bottom of the photo are the beans and peas. Unlike out front, the peas back here have barely grown at all, they get the least sunlight of anything here, poor things.

Sunnier bed.

The sunnier bed has some (tiny) herbs up top, followed by ground cherries and cherry tomatos. Closer to the bottom (and with more space in between) are the larger tomatoes, and then along the bottom are eggplant, cucumber, and a lone pepper plant.

Much of both beds are half-assedly mulched with newspaper weighted down with twigs and other garden detritus. Both beds are also caged in with wildlife netting stretched over 1x2s and held taut by nails at each corner, which can be easily unhooked from the nails so the beds are accessible. I'm not sure what happens when the tomatoes get too tall.

For contrast, here's a view of the back from a month ago, when only the shadier bed was planted. This was when the forsythia was in bloom (also the magnolias in other yards), and the trees were mercifully bare.

April 15th.

All of business towards the front of the garden is the landlord's projects. They've put out grass seeds, but that doesn't do so well when it gets really shady back here, which it will.

Front garden introduction

I say garden, but it's actually just the front steps with some containers. If it were feasible this is where I'd grow almost everything, as it's south-facing and gets a lot of sunlight, unlike the back yard. As it is I'm planning to have some cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplant here, as well as herbs since it's much easier to get to then the beds in back.

Right now there's a lot of little plants that will be set out back, but the large pot at the bottom has some cosmos and poppies planted and will stay put. Then going up there's the fig tree, some dill seedlings, strawberries, rue, more seedlings, and parsley that I've actually had growing in the window since January.

Close up of strawberries and the rue.

The rue is also an indoor window plant, which I picked up last year at the Union Square farmer's market. I've never grown it before and don't cook with it but I love the leaves and the weird scent. According to the internets dried rue is good for repelling insects, so maybe I'll harvest some for that. I'd actually like to get seeds and grow some more since a couple of the plants out back were the only non-shrubs to survive winter (plus the dog and other wildlife), but I suspect they'll need to be mail ordered since it's not very popular.

Closer to the top are scallions, dwarf sugar snap peas, and lettuce with a couple of baby herbs (rosemary and sage).

I've got a couple of 16" pots to bring out front, whenever I get it together to pick up some potting soil to fill them, and plans for two planters. We'll see how much actually gets done.

What exactly are we growing here

Earlier I posted my planned layout, but didn't include any information about the varieties, so here's the list.

From Hudson Valley Seed Library

• Isis Cherry Tomatoes
• Aunt Molly's Ground Cherries
• Evergreen Scallions
• Panther Edamame
• Vates Blue Curled Kale
• Double Yield Cucumber
• Ping Tung Eggplant
• Mammoth Long Island Dill
• Thyme and sage, no special names for those

and from Botanical Interests

• Black Krim Tomato
• Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes
• Butterhead Lettuce

Then there's Detroit Red Beets and Seven Top Turnips picked up for 50 cents last summer in North Carolina at a random gas station; basil and brussels sprout seeds I collected; spinach, cabbage, broccoli, and peas from American Meadows (these had low germination rates even though they were only from last summer). And my favorite ever, arugula from Franchi, which I only recently realized is easily acquired online, finally ending my fears of what might happen when I run out of the packet I've been carting around since 2008. Also they have the best company tagline I've seen in a while, "Because you will reap what you sow." Simple, yet ominous.

Hardening off

The sugar snap peas are finally growing, after nearly a month of not doing much. The ones in the back still aren't up to much though.

And it's almost time to plant out the tomatoes! Below from left to right, the fig tree which has been moved outside and finally sporting some fresh growth; tomatoes in the green bin; thyme, rosemary, and another tomato in front of the bin; and some marigolds and another rosemary plant.

Of course it's hard to take hardening off that seriously when it's been so warm that one of the spinach plants bolted already.

Front left plant, sporting a flowering stem.

Prepping the garden beds, the lazy way

There’re countless resources on the web for folks who want to get their gardens ready for spring planting in a sensible, efficient way, with an eye towards healthy and productive vegetables all season long. But for those of us who have the best intentions but inevitably half-ass anything involving long-term planning, there’s this.

First you need to pull all of the dog and cat shit from the beds you left totally uncovered all winter. Although you were going to lay down cardboard, compost, and mulch last fall and then cover/fence the beds so various animals wouldn’t dig them up, or, y'know, shit all over them, that obviously never happened. So. Clean them up and finally piece together whatever bits of fencing are rusting away back there so at least the dog can’t get in. Then it’s time for a break, maybe another week or so.

Go back and get disappointed by the fresh cat shit, even though you’ve done nothing so far to prevent it so why wouldn’t it be there? Toss out the fresh shit and hope you got it all because it’s time to plant out the brassicas and lettuce.

A side note: the broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cabbage should all be planted at the same time because even though you looked it up and they have different timing, you never wrote it down and forgot. Another side note: marvel at the garlic that missed pulling up last summer.

Volunteer garlic.

This is especially nice since you never got around to planting any for this year.

Even though you see and hear the cats and squirrels back there every day, don’t do anything to protect your newly transplanted seedlings.

Naked seedlings. Bad idea.

There’ll be time enough later, after you discover more cat shit and the squirrels pull up all six kale seedlings. Replant the three that look like they might live and put some netting over the whole bed, from the roll that’s been sitting there the whole time.

Wildlife netting held in place with bricks. Until the bricks get knocked into the bed and crush some poor, defenseless lettuce.

You're done! Have a beer, or maybe something stronger. You’ll notice there’s no mention of compost or fertilizer. That’s because you haven’t got any, but you’re going to buy some any day now.