Home Vegetable Garden

The beginning - March, 2017

We have a 14' by 16' plot in our backyard for vegetables.  It's divided into 6 raised bed areas with 1' trenches for walking.  We've added composted manure and sand to the soil.

This is a list of the veggies we'll be growing this year:  tomatoes (cherry, Roma and regular), Brussels sprouts, green peppers, eggplant, summer squash, carrots, beans, broccoli, red and Spanish onions, beets, lettuce, cucumbers, cantaloupe, corn and strawberries. Also, garlic cloves were planted last fall and we have rhubarb and asparagus, both perennials. We're going to try to grow the cantaloupes to climb up the trellis.  We've had success with cucumbers grown on the trellis, so we'll see ...

The seeds that were started under lights a few weeks ago have developed into nice plants and, after hardening off, will be planted in the garden. The last frost in our Zone 6a can be as late as May 31st, so if we plant earlier, we'll have to watch the weather for frost.

A new addition to our garden is a VegTrug that we've placed behind the potting shed and will serve as a hardening off spot for all of the vegetable and flower seedlings before they're planted in the ground.  It has a greenhouse cover that can be zipped closed if we have a cold night. I'll remove the cover in a couple weeks.

VegTrug with seedlings inside being hardened off

In the VegTrug I'm planting tropical milkweed and zinnias for the monarch waystation, as well as strawberries.  There will be rows of flowers on the ground in front of the trug on each side of the brick path-- zinnias, cornflowers (already planted), annual poppies, and stock -- to attract the butterflies -- and common milkweed and swamp milkweed for the monarchs to lay their eggs on.

About two weeks ago, I planted the lettuce in the ground that I had started from seed under lights.  The variety is Ruby Glow, a romaine type.  Also, the carrots that were planted at the same time are about an inch high.  The fall planted garlic is more than a foot high now and the transplanted rhubarb has caught on in its new location.  The asparagus roots that I planted last month haven't sprouted yet, but I dug down to check them out and I see the buds starting to form near the crown, so it shouldn't be too long before they emerge from the ground.

Ruby Glow romaine lettuce and carrot sprouts

Garlic planted last fall

Transplanted rhubarb in its new location

The Brussels sprouts that I set out in the garden a couple weeks ago are thriving.  I've put netting over them to discourage the white cabbage butterflies from laying their eggs on the leaves.  I'll do the same with my broccoli plants.

Brussels sprouts under netting

This year I started something new.  I found a variety of sweet corn called "On Deck Hybrid" from Burpee that was developed to grow in a planter.  So I bought a half barrel that's 26" in diameter and I evenly spaced 10 seeds two inches deep in the soil.  I should harvest two ears per corn stalk, each ear about 6 inches long.

Barrel planted with corn seeds

*** Have a great day! ***