Peas!

A lot has been going on around the garden recently. We've been so busy I haven't blogged in over a week! My husband and my dad finally finished pulling out the ugly bushes we're replacing with a fence. They haven't started the fence yet, but we're getting closer. We may buy the materials this weekend.

I've planted quite a few things: about 65 onion sets, pea seeds, carrot seeds, spinach seeds, and the rest of my potatoes.

I planted the onion sets around the garden, here and there, where I could find space.

I planted two kinds of peas- one for canning, one for freezing- in the front yard, 36 of each variety. My husband made some trellises this weekend for the peas. The seedlings are coming up already. Peas are one of my favorite plants. I think the way a pea plant grows, from infancy all the way to old age, is beautiful. I love the flowers they set. Oddly, pea flowers are one of my favorite flowers. Of coarse, you can't beat the taste of freshly picked peas, either. Sugar snap are my favorite for fresh eating.

I planted half my carrot seeds so far. I've got to finish this week some time. I want to get them in early because last year I got them in late and they were very small.

The spinach and the rest of the potatoes are on the balcony. I put the spinach seeds in a window box that I set on the ground. The spinach seems to prefer a bit more shade, so I placed two potato buckets on either side of the spinach. I've got 4 potato buckets altogether. The potato buckets are standard-size plastic outdoor garbage bins with holes near the bottom.

I also planted a bunch of seeds inside for transplanting outside in a few weeks when the weather gets warmer.

Digging In

Since last week a lot has gone on in the garden, though hardly anything has been planted. I did plant about half of my potatoes and start my pepper seeds. I planted potatoes in the garden bed next to the house. I think the front and side of the house will look interesting with some potato bushes growing there. I'm not concerned about hurting any of the foundation or the sidewalk because I allowed for enough space for the potatoes.

I also started green pepper, hot pepper, cayenne, and banana peppers. I am still considering starting jalapeños. I think it will depend on how far we get with the garden beds. We've gotten farther than I thought we would have by now.

It took me six hours to dig in my front horizontal bed this weekend. The bed measures approximately 18 feet by 6 feet. There are so many weed seeds in the bed, since the entire front yard was weeds when we moved in, that I decided to dig the whole thing to expose the seeds for the birds. Plus the bed looked like a giant mud puddle, with uneven divets everywhere, so I wanted to get that a little more even-looking so the neighbors don't start to complain.

My husband and my dad took out the giant caterpillar in the back, as I had been so lovingly calling an overgrown and neglected hedge that separated our yard and the neighbor's yard. Our next-door neighbors, on either side, are really awesome. On the side with the hedge, my husband and the guy who lives there are going to build a fence together. Ripping out the hedge gave us hundreds of extra square feet to work with- space for asparagus, some apple trees, and more room in the garden bed in the back.

My husband also dug in the back bed in the same manner as described for the front bed. The back bed in question is about 12 feet by 7 feet.

Earlier this week I dug in a smaller bed on the side of the house and also raked up most of the space under the grape vines, getting ready to plant oregano there when the weather warms up. As far as the smaller side bed, I'm still debating between herbs and peppers.

Peppers!

I'm excited to announce we are planting the pepper seeds today! Of coarse we'll be starting the seeds indoors. Where I live, we don't have a long enough growing season to plant the seeds outdoors when the weather warms up. It is possible to grow pepper plants to maturity here, just not probable. So we start them indoors 8 to 12 weeks before we set the plants out.

I like to make my own seed starting mix as opposed to buying one. Pretty much all seed starting mixes are just peat moss and perlite, so that's what I use. The trick, though, is that I like to change the proportions depending on the type of seed I am germinating. For a pepper plant, for example, I'll put a bit more perlite in the mix so the soil drains faster.

Well, off to start seeds!