This Week in My Garden: May 14, 2015

Even though I had to move the cherry tomatoes into the garage last night because of a frost warning, we're getting going here! I got all the rest of the beds prepared last weekend - a ton of work, but such high reward.

After talking more about what we wanted and getting feedback from you guys, some of my colleagues, and the people at the local garden supply store, we made a few little changes to our garden plan - adding in eggplant, cucumbers, brussels sprouts, and radishes and moving our herb location. We spread the brussels sprouts out because they take up so much space. Also, this gives us an opportunity to do a little experimenting and see which bed works best for them.

The good news at the garden store is that lots of people lost their herbs over the winter. Not good for them, of course, but it let me know that we probably didn't do something wrong with the chives, rosemary, and thyme - it was just a crazy cold season.

We only put in those plants that are hearty enough to withstand the last lingering frosts - the brussels sprouts, chives, and thyme (we'll be adding rosemary too, but I got sidetracked and left the garden store without it) - and the cherry tomatoes because I can move them in and out of the garage. With the sugar snap pea plants finally sprouting after several days of heavy rain, I'm ready to get more seeds and starts into the ground. I thought I'd get more seeds in the ground this week, but with lots of late nights at work, it was all I could do to snap these pics with my iphone on a Jammer walk.

We're planning to get a little fancier this year too. On the recommendation of Jess in last week's comments, we bought a soaker hose to use in the beds to limit the possibility of squash mold and help conserve water. We haven't installed it yet, and I'm considering returning it and buying a different kind. The one we bought has evenly spaced holes throughout, and I want to get one where you can cut it to specific lengths and mix in regular garden hose so that we don't end up watering the ground in between the beds.

We'll also be using black plastic with our melon plants, a suggestion from one of my colleagues. The plastic helps heat the soil and retain moisture, both major issues for melons.

And on the other side of the yard, the raspberry bushes that we put in last year look about as healthy as a plant could be!

I'm curious what's going on in your garden. Share in the comments, and leave a link to your blog if you're writing about it!


p.s. Last week in my garden


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