Gardening fun

Everything seems to be early this year. The weather is warm and the danger of frost at night is nearly over. I started my garden early this year because of the good weather. The only problem is the constant threat of rain. I managed to put all of my seeds in before it rained yesterday and I was hoping to transplant my onions today, but we were busy this morning and it is raining now. The weather people promised us sunshine for Thursday, maybe I'll get a chance to do my planting. I'm not going to plant my peppers and tomatoes yet, not until next week. We need warmer daytime temperatures and there has to be no chance of frost. Peppers and tomatoes are sensitive to cold.

Of course, there are other dangers once the plants are in the ground. Last year I just finished planting my peppers when we got a thunderstorm with hail. I ran out into the garden as the ice-pellets bombarded me, dragging a huge tarp with me, and I managed to cover up the peppers. A few did get damaged, but I saved most of them. That is the fun of gardening. It is not for the faint-at-heart. It also provides plenty of exercise.

I mixed quite a bit of sheep manure into some of the garden areas, especially the parts where I seeded the red beets and the zucchini. I'll do the same with the onions. Last fall I tilled a thick carpet of leaves into the soil and I always till under the lettuce and the beans when they are finished. This year, in April, I added a couple of large bags of Alfalfa pellets and a bag of clay-buster to the soil. I should have a good crop if everything goes well. Once the plants are growing, I use liquid fertilizer to feed the plants. Miracle Grow is a good product which I use.

Before I stake out the beds, I make myself a plan where I want everything. I never plant the same vegetables in the same beds from one year to another. The reason for that is the possible transfer of diseases. It is especially important with tomatoes and peppers. Once I have my plan ready I begin to work. This year I seeded everything and left the areas where the plants go open. Of course, I put labels wherever I seeded so I won't get confused. I also mark everything on my plan. Once I am completely finished with the planting and seeding, I update the plan on my computer and save it in a file. When next year comes around, I print out the plan from the previous year for reference. I have a template of the plan without anything marked on it. I save that in a new file and the process of planning where to plant what begins again. It is important to be organized. That way I don't run out of planting space once I begin seeding and planting for real in the garden.