Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Planting the Brassicas

Not all the brassicas got planted out. I still have the broccoli to go, but those go by the fence and the ends of the beds still have some ice. It is amazing the temperature difference between the soil near the walkway and the soil near the fence.

First to get planted were the kohlrabi (15) and the Michihili cabbage (6 which are really a bit too close together). The weird structure is my pea trellis. There isn't much soil depth the first foot of the beds because of the foundation for the brick path, so I have to connect things together to make those stable.

Lastly the cabbages (4 Point One, 3 Golden Acre, 3 Early Jersey) and kale (16 Red Russian). Once they were in I had to get their row covers up fast. I did the planting early in the morning because the wind was predicted to pick up by the afternoon. Well it started getting stronger as I was out there. Usually I wouldn't plant before a really windy day, but the row covers these get are very substantial and block the wind pretty well.

The row covers I put up are the tall white ones. You can barely see the one in the back as it blends into the white fence. They look horribly ugly, but they are pretty strong and tall. They protect the brassicas pretty well and still give them plenty of space to expand upward.

The most exciting news is that the first seeds are finally up in the garden. I'll take pics tomorrow as they are barely up and not really unfurled yet. These are the radishes and turnips that were planted on April 7th. They took just over a week to germinate. Next up ought to be the spinach. I don't even check the carrots until the spinach is up. Spinach is always faster.

4 comments:

  1. You've gotten so much planted! And your seedlings are so big and lush. Amazing.

    With all the rain it's going to be awhile before we can even rototill the soil, maybe in May. And by then it will be straight to summer vegetables.

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  2. You are definitely well on your way - what a difference a few weeks can make! I'm hoping to get my onions, leeks, kale & spinach in the ground on Saturday. With so many seedlings to deal with, it's quite the job so I'm leaving myself a good few hours to get it done. I'll also be picking up my fruit trees on Friday. It's going to be a very busy weekend - hopefully the weather cooperates!

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  3. Your garden is so well organised Daphne and you are certainly ahead of the game with your planting. I hope you are enjoying the warmth creeping into the days and it will be lovely to see your garden's growth next month :D

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  4. Your garden always looks so amazing event when you're just starting to plant it. Very nice looking plants too, so healthy and strong. I'll be trying to get my brassicas out this weekend but that will depend on the rain schedule. Hopefully will find some clear sky time to do that.

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