okay, so march and april were pretty busy months. i was out of town off and on for several weeks and it’s been hard to keep up with the blogging about all the work we’ve done in the garden. but never fear, even before the aforementioned chickens arrived, we have been hard at work.
since the winter was so mild and spring came so early, we decided to get an earlier start on the planting this year.
we planted most of the early season seeds under cover in march, including the beets, carrots, cilantro, collards, cress, kale, lettuces, mustard greens, both kinds of parsley, peas, radicchio, scallions, shallots, spinach, and swiss chard. we used pvc piping and clear plastic sheeting to make temporary covers for the garden beds that acted as mini-greenhouses.
the goal was to protect the seeds from any freezing temps that might still occur and to keep the cock-sucking, mother-fucking squirrels from getting in and digging everything up. the first goal was handily met and we did have a few frosts after planting, so i’m glad we did that. the second goal…well, those cock-suckers are resourceful, that’s for damn sure. i had to scour the garden for bricks and slate pieces to weight down the plastic in a nearly unbroken ring around the beds because they kept squirming their way underneath the plastic covers. and of course, the more bricks i used to keep the plastic down, the more work it was to lift the plastic to water underneath. cock-sucking devil beasts.
anyway, the lettuces and peas sprouted easy and took off like gangbusters. the beets, chard, carrots, cress, mustard greens, and parsley were a little slower to sprout but are doing okay. some of the other veggies we’ll have to reseed thanks to the cock-sucking squirrels but we’re still ahead of the game compared to last year. and the tomato and pepper seedlings have been transplanted, so things are going well.
we’re going to try putting some chicken wire over the garden beds next weekend to keep the cock-sucking squirrels out when we reseed more plants. stay tuned.
