Another gorgeous day to be working in the garden and another bed prepped and seeded. This time I did the spring spinach bed. You can see above that part of the bed is in shade even though it was the middle of the afternoon. By the time I went inside at 4pm the whole bed was in the shade of my neighbor's house. As the sun gets higher the bed will thaw out more. And I do mean THAW. The first half of the bed was totally unthawed, but the other end was frozen about eight inches down. I could still prep the bed and seed as spinach is pretty hardy, but the bed does need to thaw still.
Sadly the overwinter spinach didn't fare well this year. Usually almost all of the plants make it, but this year I'd say only about half did. I'm still expecting a decent harvest, but I hope the spring spinach does well.
Next up was the carrot bed. The bed had already been prepped before, but since I was doing carrots I figured it didn't hurt to reaerate it. I put a row of bunching onions along the edge. This is hardly all of the seedlings, but I'll scatter more around the garden as I plant.
Usually I take about two feet of the front of this bed for lettuce but this year I want more carrots. I had to plant something in the first six inches or so since the bed depth near to the brick path is pretty shallow. This is the reason for the onions. But the rest of the area is all carrots (except for the back which is a foot long strip of peas). I planted 10 little rows of Mokum, which is an old favorite of mine. The other nine rows closer to the path are Yaya. I've never had these before so don't know how well they will do here, but I've heard good things about them. Both are fairly quick growers. I've always been disappointed in SugarSnax in the spring. It tastes great as a fall carrot and gets really big, but as a spring carrot it is bitter and not very sweet.
After it was seeded I put a double layer of old agribon (with holes in it) to cover the soil. Then watered it. This will keep the soil moist until the carrots sprout. And it also keeps me from washing away the seeds when I water. Unlike a board if the carrots sprout under it, the poor things won't be squished.
This year I have sown a lot more carrots than usual too. They are a staple product that everyone likes, and very space-efficient too.
ReplyDeleteWe had such unusually warm weather in January this year that I was able to start spinach which has been growing like weeds. Almost everything I started this winter has grown like weeds and now I have to start my spring planting all over again. Such a weird "winter" here. I can't fathom having frozen soil. The warm weather must be such a delight for you.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your weather has finally cleared enough for you to get out and get planting!! I love your idea of covering the carrot seeds, I will have to try that especially for my fall planting.
ReplyDeleteHow I wish I could get carrots to grow here :( Your gardens are looking great already!
ReplyDeleteAll of my carrot seedlings got eaten up by slugs (or earwigs?) last year so I'm hoping that a lot of those buggers got wiped out by our long, cold winter. Love the row cover idea for the carrots too - am definitely going to give it a try!
ReplyDeleteIt must be so nice to work in the soil. Hard to believe some is still frozen. The snow has finally melted here this week, but it will be a while before the soil dries.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of us are trying Yaya carrots this year. It will be interesting to compare. I'll be trying some old standbys as well. I have such a difficult time with carrots its a wonder that I don't give up on them.
So nice to be working in the garden again, you just reminded me to sow some carrots.
ReplyDeleteOh that cloth covering is a good idea for keeping carrot seeds in place. We're timing a lot of our gardening based on what you're doing (being the expert and fellow Arlington-dweller)
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