Today was a dank day. I went out to put in the broccoli plants. And got chased in by the rain. It started a few drops here and there as I was aerating the soil. I put more than broccoli in my broccoli patch. I plant two rows of broccoli that are two feet apart. I've found that three rows are just too close for them to produce well. But that is a lot of extra space especially when they are small. So I put a row of turnips along the outside. One row on each side. Luckily I did this first. The rain held off just long enough. I wouldn't want to get my seed packet wet.
View from my windowAs I put in the first broccoli plants the rain started. I stayed out getting wet until they were all in. But I wasn't going to get wet for the row cover. Nor was I going to get my camera wet, so I took a photo of it from indoors. Not a great photo as you can only see some of the 10 plants that went in.
Tall white row covers blocking my viewWhen the rain let up I put the cover on quickly. Sadly the row covers will block my fence for quite some time and the broccoli row cover stays up all year. The fence will be planted in zinnias which are quite pretty, but only the bees will see them most of the time. Which is too bad as I really enjoy their colorful display.
The garden is really shaping up. The first seeds are up and growing. Above are either the radishes or the turnips. I forgot which ones I put in which rows. Not that it matters. I'll find out when their roots start to pop up. The first of the spinach is up too. The patch by the path. The other patches have colder soil as they get less sun, so they will take a bit longer. No sign of the carrots yet, but then they always take a while. The only transplants ready to be planted are those bunching onions I talked about earlier. I'll do them tomorrow when the weather clears up. It should be a really pretty day tomorrow. But the bulk of the spring garden is in. Which means it is time to turn to other kinds of spring work. Like cleaning up the rest of the yard. I ordered mulch which will be delivered in a week. That will need to be spread. The compost needs to be turned. I think next week I'll be building upper body strength.
So great that you have most of your planting done ... but always other work to do! No kidding on the "upper body strength" - I've been turning over some of the garden space and my shoulders are pretty sore.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think that broccoli would need that much room between the rows - I think I planted it only 12" apart in all directions last year. It looks like my small heads may have been due to spacing instead of the late planting as I originally though. I'll have to try the wider spacing this year to see if it makes difference.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing to me how quickly your garden can go from snow to sow, so to speak. Your changes in weather are so much more dramatic than what we get. How far apart do you place your broccoli? I set my out 18 inches apart and stagger the rows to give them even a bit more room.
ReplyDelete18" in two rows which are 24" apart. I've tried three rows 16" apart, but it was just too close and they didn't make good heads.
DeleteInteresting to see your spacing for broccoli. I do mine pretty much like Michelle, 18" apart in a staggered double row. But my rows/beds are 4ft apart, so they are really getting 3sqft apiece. It's good you got done before you got rained out!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it a shame that we need to cover so many things and still the slugs and snails can get to our plants.
ReplyDeleteI like the first picture - it's like an action shot! Which is not a typical thing in gardening, really :)
ReplyDelete