First Beds Planted!

Yesterday I had an ambitious plan for the family. We were going to dig beds, mark rows and plant the entire garden.

I didn’t pull it off. We did manage to dig nine nice beds, though.

We planted six of them before running out of time. Rachel had planned a social engagement for the evening so we lost the last hour-and-a-half of light hanging out with friends RATHER THAN DOING SOMETHING IMPORTANT!

If we didn’t have friends, those last four beds would be planted right now.

Sad!

Though I left the area where we made beds alone, I had to go over the ground in the “field crop” area of our garden with the tractor again to make a smoother seedbed.

The tiller had been set deep and it left big ruts in the ground that made proper seeding difficult. Now the area is ready for turning into single rows.

Here’s a view of the entire garden, as of this morning:

The beds to the left are what we made yesterday. To the right is the larger field crop area where we’ll plant single rows, 3′ apart. That should happen this afternoon.

The tiller on the tractor maybe hit 5″ and the ground beneath is quite hard, which is why I decided to make my typical style of beds in part of the tilled area. Because I took loose soil from the paths and mounded it over the beds, they are composed of roughly 8″ of fluffy soil, which is better for most plants. We’ll see how they do compared to the row crops I’ll plant right into the tilled field crop area.

In the first two beds to the left, I fertilized with cottonseed meal and planted cabbages in one row down the middle.

In the very first bed, the cabbage row is flanked with two rows of radishes. In the second bed, carrots flank the cabbages.

The next four beds we planted with scattered seeds, including clover, black-eyed peas, sugar snap peas, lettuce, daikon, carrots, cabbage, turnips and radishes. When you get tired of making and planting perfect rows, tossing seeds around works as well.

Though we don’t have irrigation yet, we do have a hose that reaches the edge of the garden area. For now, that should be good enough to get everything germinating.

I filmed a video which I hope to have edited and posted this afternoon. It feels good to be gardening and filming and posting again. About time.