April 7, 2020

 The time has come for me to transition from the hoop house to the garden. I am getting ready to turn the garden soil over and till in last year’s compost to prepare for outside planting.  Meanwhile, in my home, in a southern facing window, I am starting tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc. from seed. In mid-May, after the danger of frost passes, I will “re-home” these to the garden, and then direct seed vegetables including beans, corn, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and more. 

Thinking back, it was a good winter season in regards to the hoop house. I planted garlic in early December ’19 (see blog post of December 29, 2019), and at this time, it is 6 to 8 weeks from harvest. I like to grow it in the hoop house exclusively now because I don’t need to worry about drainage or weeds. Now that I grow mostly for just Kath and I, I only raise 15 plants - that is still a lot of garlic and we always have enough to share.

Through the winter I grew successions of radishes and arugula, and am now doing the fourth and last succession. I had planted lettuce and chard but the mice ate the tender seedlings as they came up. I tried to discourage this by placing ground garlic in these beds, and when that did not work, I tried ground pepper. That did not work either. Since the mice did not like eating the spicier seedlings of radish and arugula, I planted a hot mesclun mix that included leaf lettuce. The mustards, arugula, and mizuna acted as deterrents, protecting the lettuce seedlings. When these lettuces grew enough that the mice ignored them, I replanted them in other beds, and harvested the spicy stuff for salads. The lettuces remain untouched by mice and are maturing nicely. I am happy that the plan worked, and will try the same next year.

Another thing I am experimenting with is to grow Zucchini in the hoop house. I planted four seeds back in early March and they are up and growing. I am hoping that these will mature and provide zucchini much sooner than those I will be planting from seed in the garden come mid- May.  If it goes well, I will try this again next year and include other vegetables, such as cucumbers and acorn squash. 

I am looking forward to having a summer garden. Sadly enough, I haven’t had a garden of any sort since we laid down the CSA and let the field go fallow. It will be good to have a garden again- I am really looking forward it.