This week I got the major planting of brassicas into the garden. I did half of it on Monday and the other half today. Monday was very very windy. It wasn't the best time to plant but the forecast had wind for the whole week. It turns out they were wrong. Today was relatively peaceful.
The first thing I did was fertilize and fork over the garden. Then I tried to rake it smooth. My rake decided it had had enough and committed suicide.
Ah well. Now I have a new one. And I bought him another friend. My old hoe was bought at the same time as my old rake, over a couple of decades ago. It looked like it was on its last legs too. My last garden didn't have a shed. So all the tools sat out in the rain over the season. I put them in the garage for the winter, but mostly they were outside. Considering their treatment, they lasted quite a while. I hope this next pair lasts as long.
The weather here has been very windy and dry. In the last six weeks we have had about a half inch of rain. This is very abnormal for us. We average 4" of rain every month +/- 0.5" and this is our rainiest time of the year. I don't remember a spring where I had to water the garden. Yes transplants, but not the established plants.
I couldn't plant them in the dry soil. So I dug holes where each of them would be planted and then filled them up a couple of times before the plants got put in.
I hope they will be happy. This is half of the plants. They are the ones that got in on Monday. They are my Swiss chard and broccoli.
Today I planted the rest of the brassicas out. Michihili, Soloist Chinese Cabbage, komatsuna, Joi Choy, cabbage, kholrabi, and Japanese turnips. If you look in the upper right corner you will see my sprinkler. I gave up and watered the whole garden. More than half of the garden has been seeded with something or is already growing. So I figured I'd finally water the whole dang garden. It seems like a really bad sign for me to be watering so soon. I hope summer isn't so abnormal.
There they are. All snug in their row covers. Hopefully they will grow. We seem to be headed toward another warm spell. I hope it stays in the 60s and doesn't get any warmer. The weathermen have been going all over the board with the temperatures for the beginning of next week. Several times 80s have popped up in the forecast only to go back down. I'm fine with the 60s which is 10 degrees above normal. I so don't want it to be any warmer in April.
We have been so dry this year too. We don't get nearly the rain fall you do but this is our rainy season. Usually by now our grass is green and lush and ready for it's first cutting but not this year.
ReplyDeleteThe forecast says we will have rain for the next few days so maybe we will have a little relief!!
I've been complaining about the drying winds, and using house water to sprinkle when needed. Today I found out our irrigation water has been on for over a week, but my husband had the main valve turned off! I'm giving the garden a good sprinkling today, so it is inevitable it will rain hard this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how dry the soil is right now. I had to run a small sprinkler on several beds yesterday. One bed needed soaking before I could transplant some seedlings out and the other was the garlic bed. I hope this isn't a sign of what is to come for this growing season.
ReplyDeleteSame here with dry and windy conditions and I have to water daily to make sure my transplants make it.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever put in rain barrels? I hooked up all mine last weekend, I was tired of using the city water to water and thought that we have seen the last of the freezing temps anyway.
ReplyDeleteNo I haven't. I'm not going to put them in right now. I'm still thinking about them.
DeleteIt started off very dry here but lately we've been getting rain on a fairly regular basis and I've not had to water the garden other than potted plants. I've actually had to cover up the parts of the garden that are getting moved so that the soil doesn't get wet and heavy. We're still below average rainfall amounts for the season so far. My spring/summer brassicas are just starting to germinate and should be ready to transplant when most of my new garden beds are ready!
ReplyDeleteOh not dry here! The western part of the world (at least where I am at) is getting lots of rain!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I love your hoop houses. I am thinking of doing something similar...
DeleteEverything looks great! If those all do well you are going to have a nice harvest. We have had almost too much rain but this week we are drying up. I am not looking forward to having to water this summer either.
ReplyDeleteEveryone seems to be saying the same thing about water. Our weather has been utterly cattywhompus. Hope all goes well with your brassicas.
ReplyDeleteYou know it is sad to read about garden tools that despair so much ... that they commit suicide. LOL!
ReplyDeleteI like the new hoe and rake - spiffy red and quite sturdy looking.
We were starting to get quite dry ourselves but yesterday we had a cool day of supposedly moderate rain, which turned into a steady downpour for us last night. The garden and yard really needed a good soaking so I was actually really glad to see it happen. Luckily the sun is back to make an encore appearance.
oh my planting outside already! everything looks great!!
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