I'm going to switch up to being somewhat more methodical about the garden this year in that I'm striving for cleaner documentation on the growing season.
There are 5 boxes - 1 through 5. Box 4 is more or less the 'herb' box planted mostly with perennial herbs though there will be successive seedings of annuals like dill and cilantro.
The remaining boxes will hold a revolving set of plants. Hopefully the fact that boxes 3 and 5 are mostly shaded around the winter solstice won't be too much of an issue but since I've never planted in those areas, it remains to be seen.
I'm thinking quarterly posts to reflect the state of the garden in each season each year with intermittent progress reports between them. This is the first quarterly post.
Box 1:
I planted garlic as soon as the box was ready to make up for the lost time during the landscaping project. I purchased the garlic, 8 ounces of the soft-necked variety Nootka Rose (link), from Hood River Garlic as that was the only variety remaining. Usually I purchase hard-necked varieties like Italian Purple or Spanish Roja since I like the flavors, the color, and size of the cloves. But they only store for about 6 months and cannot be braided so it will be interesting to see how the soft one turns out.
The layout of rows is north-south.
January 9:
8 rows garlic - Nootka Rose - cloves
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| Planting |
I planted them in rows about 6-8" apart about 4" from one another and 1" deep to the top of the clove. I used a tape measure to make it easy rather than trying to eyeball the layout like I've always done to get more consistency and make the best use of the available space.
today
Yesterday we just received our first precipitation since Dec 24. December was an extremely wet month but January was absolutely bone dry - the first rainless January in recorded history in these parts. Yesterday yielded about 1-1.5" and predictions for tomorrow show about another inch. However the next rain probably won't be for at least another couple of weeks. March can be a wet month but the way things have gone the past few years, it's just as likely that we may have seen all the rain we will see for the remainder of the season - time will tell.
January 15:
1 row lettuce - Red Lettuce Mix - plants
1 row radish - Easter Egg Blend - seeds
1 row lettuce - Speckled Amish - plants
today
January 21:
1 row radicchio - plants
1 row arugula- Grazia - seeds
1 row mesclun - seeds
1 row broccoli raab - Cimi di Rapa - plants
today
Box 2:
I used the north half of the box for peas and saved the south half for kale, chard, chicory, and beets. I should probably be able to rotate the box for more summer fare like basil and carrots. Since this is the first year with this setup of raised beds, it will take at least this entire season to get a good feel on how to plan but this seems to be feasible.
The layout of rows is west-east.
January 15:
2 rows shelling peas - Progress #9 - seeds
2 half rows Lacinato kale - plants - 3 per row
2 half rows Rainbow chard - plants - 3 per row
2 half rows chicory - Puntarelle di Galatina
2 half rows beets - Gourmet Blend - Detroit Dark, Chioggia, Golden
February 1:
2 half rows beets - second planting of above
peas
kale
chard
puntarelle chicory
beet seedlings
Box 3:
This will be the box dedicated to the tomatoes come Spring. Since there is still a couple of months left before planting I thought I'd try sneaking in some plants for a quick turnaround - mostly cole crops for the winter months. This box is still in shade for most of the early morning but as it quickly comes up over the next few weeks there should be plenty of sun for plants in this box to mature.
The layout of rows is north-south.
January 21:
1 celery - Redventure - plant
1 celery - Giant Pascal - plant
1+ row broccolini - Happy Rich - plants
2 rows cauliflower - plants
1 row chicory - Puntarelle di Galatina - plants
1 row chicory - Blanca di Milano
celery
broccolini
cauliflower
puntarelle chicory
blanca chicory
Box 4:
The herb box - most of these are perennials but there is plenty of space for a few plantings of annual herbs with quick turnaround like cilantro and dill. This is the box that I think will see the most sun overall during the year and during the day. It is also the one that comes up to the stone patio and will be most visible from sitting there so it probably suits a more or less permanent set of plants.
Some of these plants come from the ones in the pots last year, a few are new. I tried to set those that prefer a dry environment on the east side and those who like it a bit more moist on the west.
The layout is more or less around the perimeter with plantings in the center of the box as well.
January 9: (clockwise from northwest corner)
Perimeter:
French tarragon - from a pot last year
Chives - from a pot last year and divided into two clumps
Thyme - Faustinoi
Thyme - French
Italian oregano - 2 plants
Greek oregano - from a pot last year
Sage
Parsley - 2 plants
January 16:
Center:
Dill - seeds
Cilantro - seeds
Mexican oregano - from a pot last year
Marjoram - plant
French tarragon
chives
thyme
Italian oregano
Greek oregano
Sage
Italian parsley
Dill (top), cilantro
Mexican oregano
Box 5:
We just finished getting all of the soil into this one. It will probably hold a good deal of the summer plants - peppers, basil, eggplant, and perhaps a zucchini - but until May will hold a replanting of lettuce, greens, celery, and peas
Containers:
I still have some plants in containers, mostly herbs. A few sage plants, a few mints, a a couple of oreganos, a lemon verbena, epizote, a tarragon, rosemary, and a Greek bay in a wine barrel.
clockwise from top:
mint, mint, verbena, sage, sage, sage, oregano,oregano, mint
epizote (top), tarragon
Greek Bay
Persimmon
Rosemary
Lemon
Satsuma Mandarin
Besides the two citrus trees we've had for a while - an older lemon and a Satsuma Mandarin - the landscape project left us with a new persimmon tree from which I'm very anxious to start getting yields this Autumn.
That wraps it up for now. Until the next quarterly report, at which point we should have started our summer crops like tomatoes, peppers, basil, squash, and maybe eggplant, I'm planning on posting updates. These will probably be rather cursory observations and photos of the progress of various plants.
Should be cool!
