Seriously getting ready

Heath bought the wood (red cedar). I bought a truck load of stuff (seriously, to Heath's horror). The next step is to actually BUILD THE GARDEN! Next weekend.

Elizabeth from Frager's garden center was a huge resource. She helped me to decide on the composition of the much aforementioned garden-to-be. We went with 2/3 organic potting mix (which already has lots of good stuff like peat moss), 1/3 organic leaf compost and a few cubic feet of vermiculite. We also picked up a slow release organic fertilized made by Dr. Earth. We got a fine pine mulch to top it all off.


The delivery from Frager's arrived and Heath and I spent a good 45 minutes hauling bags of soil, mulch, compost and pea gravel. There are enormous piles of stuff everywhere.

Then it was on to moving the compost bin. I leveled the ground in the new spot next to the shed and then started digging up the compost. We inherited the bin from the previous owner, Mr. Booze. I understand from our neighbor that the compost at the bottom was several years old. But roots had gotten into it. Tree roots, ivy roots and who know what else. I slowly trudged my way through the bin and did end up with some good stuff at the bottom. Unfortunately, I had to sift through it to remove more packing peanuts, which are NOT compostable! I was surprised to find that much of the kitchen waste I've been putting in there all winter was actually decomposing, even though I don't think we've actually successfully "cooked" it just yet.

I'm tired. There was a lot of digging. After all the clean up last weekend, this weekend we pulled out the railroad ties and moved the compost bin:


Our helper Elizabeth at Frager's suggested that we dig a trench with the objective of clearing all of the good soil away to get down to the clay where our garden will be. Which we did, and then layered pea gravel and mixed it into the clay and soil really well to break up the clay. The purpose: drainage. Darn clay.


We covered about a 5' by 10' area. We still need to add more pea gravel around a 4' by 4' area for the second raised bed.

Yep. We changed our raised bed building plans and found one that we are both happy with. We'll have two beds (4' by 4' and 4' by 8') and they will be 16" tall, which is taller than what we had planned. This is good. Heath found a great deal on red cedar that will be cut to size and ready to pick up on Tuesday. I just hope the Civic can take it!

Next weekend, we will build it. Hopefully it won't rain.

Purple Asparagus... in a few years

Last weekend we took advantage of the ridiculously glorious weather and started to dig.

We dug in the garden to pull out old odds and ends (like shards of pots and packing peanuts!), we dug asparagus trenches and Heath dug out a nice big hole for our new Kwanzan Japanese Flowering Cherry tree. How could we own a house in Washington, D.C. without one blooming in the spring? To learn why, check this out. It was a bit of a challenge to fit in the Honda Civic - the trunk was, well, in the trunk...and branches reached all the way up to the rear view mirror.

Next on the list was garden clean up. The idea was to remove any junk from the existing garden to make room for our veggies. We dug, turned the soil and hit a lot of clay. We have A LOT of clay. Sometimes its only 3 inches down, while in other spots its more like 8 to 12 inches. It's thick - you could throw a pot with it. Now I understand why are there so many brick homes in the region!

Then came the asparagus trenches. I'm a little concerned for the sheer amount of clay surrounding these trenches. While I did mulch all around and mixed in sand and fertilizer and soil, I'm not sure it will be enough for the asparagus plants to make their way up surrounded by dark, red, sticky clay. The asparagus trenches (three of them) are about 2 1/2 feet long, 18 inches wide and about a foot deep. Each trench has two plants. We dug them along the fence near what will be the garden.


The roots we bought are one year old, which means that our first harvest won't be for two more years! We'll be patient though. After both of us read the chapter about asparagus popping up out of the ground for the first main harvest of the season in Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, we were sold on the concept. The book is obviously a recommended read and an inspiration for much of our garden.

On to the aasparagus variety...Purple Passion Asparagus. They are meant to be, "Larger, sweeter and tastier spears than the more common green types." Unfortunately, the purple stalks turn green when cooked. We ordered ours from Gurney's. I was very excited when the box arrived, but it was a few weeks early. They've been waiting patiently in my sun porch cupboard for the planting and are now in the ground! Now we wait to taste....in two years....hopefully.

Promising Weather

Days like today - sunny and 65 - are a tease. Yes, new plant shoots are green are continually growing outside (and inside), but we have a long way to go. We barely have any buds on the trees and I haven't seen anything flower yet.

To sedate my impatience, I've been planning....for months. Here is my up to date plan for the main garden.

The main garden will be a raised bed (about a foot tall) 10' long by 5' wide. There will be 36 1' squares for planting. In each square or series of squares, will be either one large plant (like a head of lettuce), a few medium-sized plants (like three garlic plants) or many small plants (like 12 carrots). The plants will be arranged for their companion properties. For example, rosemary helps feed the right nutrients to other plants, like carrots and garlic. Other plants are far from one another for the opposite reason: beans don't like garlic. The garden will be more dense than the typical row style garden. Lots of different plants are intermingled using up tall space and ground space, gaining nutrients from one another. Nasturtiums and marigolds are in the vegetable bed to help attract and detract the right bugs. At least that the plan!

Heath and I have been discussing our building of the raised bed. We've chosen a plan from the This Old House website. At the moment we are researching the type of wood that we want to use and trying to price this all out. We are considering cedar, redwood, locust and fir. The latter two are less costly, but may be difficult to find. Any lumber buying tips would be appreciated!

Sprouts

Some of my sprouts are so little that I can't event get my camera to focus on them! Truth be told, I could use a fancier camera, but those sprouts are tiny. One brave rosemary seedling has made its way up - the other rosemary and lavender (The lavender is called White Ice Lace, Rebecca) planted at the same time seem to still be sleeping. This isn't too surprising since the germination time for them are to be 15-25 days and 21-28 days respectively. No wonder they were the first to be planted. We are at three weeks today! Come on guys.

Last weekend I ventured out to check on the tulips. There was still a bit of snow on the ground but I found the heads of tulips beginning to make their way out of the muddy soil. It's a little thrilling to find the first real proof of spring. Again, I had trouble getting a photo that successfully focused in on those greens.

The garlic has sprouted as well. The one tester I kept indoors came up first and now has a stalk about 5 inches tall. Those out in the sun-porch have been slower to show up, but are beginning to find their way to the top.

And on to the next group of planting. Last Saturday I pulled out the seeds for chives, basil, dill and parsley - a total of 7 varieties. I also dug out coleus seeds to start - these plants will be used for some of my colorful ground cover (in the shade). I now have quite the seedling production underway.

Tomorrow I'll be starting heirloom tomato seeds just in from my mom:

• Brandywine - A favorite of my mom's
  
• Amber Colored - We both grew last year and enjoyed
  
• Julia Child - New and couldn't be resisted
  
• Italian Heirloom - Another new one
  

If all goes well, there will be some canning of tomatoes in the near future!