Pretend this is dated April 23

I have been neglecting the blog for awhile, but only because we've been doing so much work!

The following photos were taken on April 23 towards the end of my indoor seed starting. Everything is now in the garden except the tomatoes and sunflowers...I'll try to get out today and take updated pictures.

The entire seed-starting rack. Not quite at the fullest point of the spring.

Parsley & Chard seedlings. These ended up planted together in containers, since I also planted chard from seed in the garden.

My onions. They're a little sad. Next year I'm starting them in potting soil instead of seed starting mix, since I hate the concept of fertilizing. I've also learned to plant them a lot closer together to save room.

Basil in the front, peppers in the back.

An entire flat of peppers - Blue Nose Bell, Garden Sunshine, Jalepeno, Aurora, Candlelight

Tomatoes. I planted Sheboygan, Amish Paste, Italian, Blondkopfchen, and Yellow.

Leeks, more tomatoes, and some peppers that never made it - started too late.

I got antsy in January and started some lettuce seed to see how it would grow under the lights. It definitely got long, skinny leaves that weren't very crisp. I transplanted these into some containers, and now they seem to be doing ok. It really didn't give me a headstart on my lettuce, though.

More progress

We made some more progress today. I came home from my 9AM appointment with my personal trainer (he made me run 6 sets of "suicides!"), I found Aaron out back digging post holes for the trellis. I joined in and started running chicken wire along another length of fence, then got to work getting that annoying tree out of the corner by my third bed. With a bit of help from my father in law, I got it all down and cleared out. I'm building a compost pile around the remaining stump, and hope it will just get rid of itself in a few years.

Tree remains on right, sad stump (and no annoying dead tree) in the back left corner.

Aaron got 3 of the 4 post holes dug, posts in, concrete footings added...and we started to put the trellis up. Turns out we have to do some cutting, and a storm is coming in, so we're done for the day.

First Spring Day

It's not the first day of spring, but it's the first day that really felt like it. Aaron and I were able to work in the yard in jeans and a t-shirt. We took a trip to Menard's with my father in law to purchase supplies: trellis & posts, chicken wire, and beams for the raised beds. We had to head to Lowe's afterwards, because Menard's doesn't carry compost. They didn't seam to carry much of anything organic (just potting soil).

When we got back home we amended the soil in the two existing raised beds with some compost and peat moss. After Aaron tilled it in, I checked the UW Extension garden calendar and learned that I could plant some veggies. So, today I planted two kinds of carrots, beets and chard, and three kinds of lettuce. I still need to get some more greens in the garden, and I hope to do that tomorrow.

Our garden construction projects have started. Aaron tilled up a portion of the lawn and installed one of our four new raised beds.

Aaron also tilled the space that the trellis/gate will occupy. His hops had to get in the ground today, so he planted those but we're still trellis-less.

More Seeds!

Last Saturday I started my tomato and pepper seedlings. I planted 24 tomatoes and 19 peppers, a few varieties of each (listed in my garden planning post). I planted each one in a 2-inch pot so it would have some room to grow. I also placed them on a heat mat, which is new for me this year. The heat really worked - my first tomato seedling only took four days! It was an Italian tomato. I've had to water the seedlings at least twice a day because they're drying out so fast.

The first pepper seedling popped up today (Aurora) but I was expecting most of those to take about 14 days to germinate. My onions finally seem to be hitting their stride, and most of the swiss chard seedlings look great. The lettuce greens seem pretty flimsy....I'm realizing I started them in seed starting mix but they probably could have gone right into soil. Maybe I'll remedy that later today.

As my husband and I talk about canning, he's concerned we might not have enough tomatoes. I'm more concerned with the limited garden space we'll have. Regardless, I started 7 more Amish Paste tomatoes today.

The weather last weekend was a bit of a tease. It was in the 50's and I got our compost pile going. Now there are snow flurries outside and the temperature likely won't top 20 degrees this weekend. Grrr, Wisconsin.

Seed Starting

I got antsy last weekend and started some spinach, arugula and yellowleaf lettuce seeds in hopes of having some fresh greens before I can get them from the garden. I didn't water them correctly (I have a spray bottle now) so the germination was a bit uneven, but I'm hoping that will be fixed this week.

Today I planted onions (36), two kinds of swiss chard (12), parsley (24) and chamomile. The new seeds are on a warming mat under the lights, and they look quite happy. These all should actually be started next weekend, but I'll be out of town.

When I first started gardening (2 years ago), I had no idea how to start seeds. Now I'm feeling a bit more confident. For other neophytes out there, here's a quick example of the different shapes and sizes seeds come in.

So you get a sense of scale, here's the paper I wrote on, next to a seed packet.

Next up: I'll be starting peppers and tomatoes on March 20.

Seeds & Grow Rack

Today I placed my seed order with Seed Savers. I ordered everything listed in the previous post, for a grand total of $124.02. I also took a trip to Lowe's with my husband, and purchased the materials for a seed starting rack. The 6-foot utility rack, 2 shop lights, light bulbs, power strip with timer, S hooks, zip ties, and 4 small bags of potting mix came to $152.79. So, start-up costs this year are a little high (especially considering I'll be expanding the garden plots), but it's going to be a fun season!! Once I start my first seeds, I'll take pictures.

Starting Anew

Last year was really busy - moving, quickly building our garden, starting my doctoral program, getting to as many Brewers games as possible, and trying to keep up with the garden. Garden-wise, there is lots of room for improvement. My husband agrees that we should have more space, so we're actually going to triple the size of the garden, adding 4 beds! We got the 2 beds together in about 2 days last year, so this shouldn't be too much of a project. The bigger project will be hiring a landscaper to take out the trees lining the back of our property so the garden gets more sun and I can plant squash/cucumber/melon plants back there. To retain some privacy we're going to build a trellis (probably 4-5 feet high) that will become the home for my husband's hops and, at least this year, some beautiful sunflowers. We'll build a gate into the trellis so it will be a gorgeous entrance to our garden paradise.

I spent quite a few hours last night pouring over the 2011 Seed Savers Exchange catalog, and came up with a plan for this year's garden:

Beans

• Ideal Market (green stringless bean)
• Red Swan (purple stringless bean)
• Eiskerby (edamame)

Beets

• Burpee's Golden
• Chioggia (a beautiful red/white variety)

Broccoli: De Cicco

Carrots

• Dragon (gorgeous red/purple variety)
• Scarlet Nantes

Leeks: Blue Solaise

Lettuce

• Australian Looseleaf
• Forrellenschlus
• Red Iceberg

Arugula: Appollo

Melons

• Charentais
• Emerald Gem

Onion: Yellow Parma

Peppers

• Aurora (will grow in container)
• Candlelight (will grow in container)
• Bull Nose Bell
• Garden Sunshine
• Jalepeno - Traveler's strain

Spinach: Bloomsdale

Swiss Chard

• Five Color Silverbeet
• Rhubarb Red

Summer Squash

• Black Beauty Zucchini
• Golden Zucchini

Winter Squash

• Marina di Onioggia (had to plant this after reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle)
• Waltham Butternut

Tomatoes

• Amish Paste
• Sheboygan
• Blondkopfchen (grew these last year and they're a must again this year)
• Dr. Wyche's Yello
• Italian Heirloom

Herbs

• Genovese Basil
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Italian Parsley
• Cilantro (will grow in container as ornamental, may end up in husband's beer)

Sunflower mixture

Whew! That's a lot of stuff, but I've already planned out my tasks on a calendar. I need to create a growing station in the basement, but my first planting task is to start the onion, parsley and chard seedlings the weekend of March 12.