Peas and Beans

I decided to try growing some things from seed this year, so bought snap peas and pole beans, as well as various flowers.  I researched the seed companies at the local garden store, to find one NOT owned by Monsanto.  Fortunately, The Chas C. Hart Seed company, to the best of my knowledge is not, and they're local - out of CT!  Above, the pole beans just starting to emerge, and the peas having been transplanted to the ground, with twine around them for extra support - just call it a pea bra.  Then below, the twine goes up what I'm calling the "Bean Tree," my homage to Barbara Kingsolver.  I had been waiting to find something to make the bean support, and one day while walking to subway I saw a fallen branch, perfect!  I cut the branch into pieces, and brought them back via skateboard.  The smaller branches have served as the support for the peas in various places in the garden.

Checking in on the tomatoes

This past weekend I finally planted the tomatoes that have been bouncing from my room, the an outside sheltered area, to the cellar, then back outside, all depending on that day's and night's temperatures.  Now, they are in the ground.  When planting tomatoes, it's a good idea to add some bone meal, which will provide the roots with adequate calcium and phosphorous, both of which are critical for establishing healthy plants.  A continuous source of calcium helps to prevent blossom end rot on tomatoes, and phosphorous is essential for plant cell walls.  Here are the seedlings enjoying some afternoon sun under the frosted glass of my table.

The tomatoes are shown here on my bed, one unseasonably cold May day - this was after 4 had been ripped out of their pots by cats (or angry landlords).  To avoid the wind and the cold, they got to spend a day in bed, next to the sunny window...but not too much sun, so I put a very delicate fabric up, to prevent too much light.  

Tomatoes seedlings are planted all the way up to the first set of leaves, which will later be removed.  The plastic cups go about 2-3 inches down, and prevent cut worm from making a midnight snack of the tomatoes.  Yep, that's a yoga mat.  I look like I am doing yoga the way I have to contort my body around to step in as few places on the soil as possible.  No one likes compacted soil.

I built a mesh fence to go around the raised bed which the cats have seem to taken a liking to for their litter box.  If this doesn't work, I'm buying a coyote.  Craigslist always comes through.

Strawberries

There is nothing so sweet as a fresh picked strawberry, so when I saw those little white flowers start to bloom in mid April, I couldn't wait. I've fertilized with the fish/seaweed fertilizer I've been using about every other week. The strawberries ended up getting so heavy I had to build little stands for the stems to rest on, to keep the berries out of the dirt. You can see it in the fourth picture down, if you aren't too distracted by your pining over the berry itself. I got to taste the first strawberry this morning, May 15th. I haven't decided what's more rewarding, a fresh picked strawberry on a spring morning or a tomato on a hot summer's night. Check back in July.

Cover Crops!

Here's back to the cover crops I got from Johnny's Seeds. I used their spring mix of field peas, oats and hairy vetch. When the peas are inoculated, they affix nitrogen to the soil, which is one of the vital nutrients all plants need to grow. Last Friday night, I manually cut all the crops wit hedge trimmers, trying to minimize damage to the soil as much as possible, though I cut deep enough so that they would not grow back. This year I'm going to try minimal tilling. Soil structure is very important to having healthy soild, and thus growing healthy plants. Heavy and aggressive tilling destroys the organisms(worms, bacteria, fungus etc) that live in the soil and help it stay healthy. Look at that lettuce!