I’ve been mulching new plants. Tucking them into their beds of hay or straw for the season. Garlic first, then today onions and then broccoli. It is satisfying and makes the row look great. Strenuous, but just think of the weeding and watering it will save and the nice healthy plants that will grow.
I took some photos of the broccoli. There are a few struggling red cabbage or maybe cauliflower mixed in there, but mostly broccoli mix. The plants are under cover to prevent flea beetle attacks, and later cabbage butterfly. I left the covers off for the afternoon to admire the row and allow it to soak up this sunshine.
Before hay mulch. They’ve had some chopped leaf mulch on them from the beginning. There’s a rogue spinach in there from last fall, bolting now.Broccoli portraitAfter hay mulch. To the right, potatoes. To the left , barely visible, fava beans.
Three locations of potatoes planted. One raised bed for fingerlings, a larger new bed for early varieties, and a garden row for later varieties (“keepers”).
Early varieties in new raised bed (smaller fingerling bed in background)Garden row preppedGarden row planting in progress
And a bonus photo of Sam sifting manure in the solar-powered trommel:
We eat a whole-foods plant-based diet. Vegan plus. No meat, no seafood, no dairy, no eggs. No oil or other added fats. I cheat more often than Sam does. I enjoy finding new WFPB recipes. Highly recommended: the Paprika app, where I save all my recipes and make my grocery lists.
Here’s what I made last night (half eaten):
Vegan meatloaf
I’ve never been a huge fan of meatloaf, and in fact I loathed ground beef in any recipe although I ate it occasionally for many years. The texture of this vegan meatloaf was a little disturbing because it reminded me so much of ground beef.
But actually it tasted ok. Bland, but nourishing enough. And useful for sandwiches the next day. It would be better if pulsed less in the food processor to reduce the paste-like quality. And with the recommended barbecue sauce, which we didn’t have.
Seems too early. We’ve always vowed to get a jump on spring and that’s what’s happening. Time on our hands from sheltering in place, I guess.
We potted up approximately 100 tomato, tomatillo and ground cherry seedlings today. I think they will outgrow these containers before ready to plant in the soil which is a worry. But they look nice. We have to move them inside every night and outside every morning.
Potted up
We also planted out a row of broccoli seedlings with a few cauliflower and red cabbage here and there. These are going under row cover. Hope they don’t get too cold! Note the down coat and winter hat Sam is wearing…
A big day in gardening at our house. It’s always exciting when we get the peas in the ground. This year they have their own private trellis instead of climbing up the outside of the chicken run. The chickens were not kind to the pea vines last year. We’re planting very early for Maine, but it’s been such a mild winter and the soil was in good shape for planting.
We planted Red Kitten spinach down one side and Winter Lettuce down the other to fill in the bed as the peas climb.
Newly planted peas, spinach, lettuce.
There is also continuing activity in making up soil blocks and caring for seedlings. Tomatoes, tomatillo, ground cherry, broccoli, leeks, shallots, Cippollini onions, cabbage, cauliflower, celery. Started three types of pepper today: King of the North, Jimmy Nardello, and Red Rocket (hot – more on that below).
Small scale soil blocking operationBroccoli seedlingsNew tomato seedlings and peppers getting extra heat under plastic
On the other side of the gardening lifecycle, I decided to process the dried Red Rocket peppers that have been hanging in the kitchen since last fall. First goal was to get some seeds to plant, then I decided to carry on and use the spice grinder to make some home ground cayenne pepper. This enterprise had us coughing most of the afternoon as cayenne particles dispersed everywhere. Sort of like the coronavirus.
Ristreta of sorts with 2019 peppers “Red Rocket”Pepper seed, skin, and pods
We are in the early phase of the Coronavirus SARS-2 pandemic. I’ve noticed that planning is very helpful in addressing anxiety. Garden planning is a chore I don’t enjoy, but it seems to help, so I’ll do some.
Here’s a look back at the past three years of gardening here:
2017 I used an alphabetical coding system. 2018 A larger notebook, but the plan really got overloaded with too much information. 2019 A simpler plan, more organized by row. Tried to improve rotations and plan ahead for succession planting.
I like the row concept from last year. It makes rotation decisions easier and keeps me focused on what we like to eat. I think I will reuse the 2019 approach, but keep the actual planting results on a separate page.
There are actually 10 rows, so here’s a rough beginning for 2020:
Garlic (outside fence)
Flowers (mostly perennials)
Squash (was Three Sisters, but this row felt very cramped and messy last year)
Snow was predicted earlier, but the forecast changed. And indeed we are getting rain, rain, and more rain and strong winds. A real snow melter.
Yesterday in the hoophouse
I thought it would be pleasant enough sheltered in the hoophouse but the temperature was somewhere in the 30’s and my hands became numb almost immediately.
Nevertheless I planted some arugula, Salanova lettuce, and tatsoi in some of the empty rows in the hoophouse. Sam watered them in with the hose. Now we are warming up inside.
